Type 055 is a 10,000-ton destroyer made in China, and will be the main battleship of the Chinese Navy in the next few decades. This class of destroyers enables China to achieve long-range attack and defense for the first time in the design of destroyers and frigates. In the future, its improved version will surely become the pioneer of the Chinese Navy’s ocean-going after adding all-electric propulsion, electromagnetic guns, directed energy weapons and expanded sea-based anti-missile capabilities.
Service progress
On June 28, 2017, the first Type 055 ship was launched at Jiangnan Shipyard. In the following nearly 3 years, 8 Type 055 ships were launched one after another, setting a new record in the history of world shipbuilding.
On January 12, 2020, the first ship "Nanchang" officially joined the People’s Navy’s combat sequence (Port No. 101);
On March 2, 2021, the No. 2 ship "Lhasa" (Port No. 102) was commissioned;
On April 23, 2021, the No. 3 ship "Dalian" (Port No. 105) was commissioned. Then it experienced a "window period" of nearly 7 months.
In November 2021, the No. 4 ship "Anshan" (Port No. 103) was commissioned;
In February 2022, the No. 5 ship "Yan’an" (Port No. 106) was commissioned;
In March 2022, the No. 6 ship "Wuxi" (Port No. 104) was commissioned.
Finally, 8 months after the No. 6 ship entered service, the No. 7 ship "Zunyi" (hull number 107) was delivered in November 2022. It is also the latest one to be commissioned among the first batch of Type 055s. Currently, only the No. 8 ship "Xianyang" has not yet entered service. From the commissioning of the Nanchang in 2020 to the upcoming commissioning of the Xianyang, it took only about three years for the first batch of eight Type 055s to be commissioned, which can be described as "speedy".
From the commissioned units, it can be seen that the first batch of eight Type 055s were assigned to the Chinese Navy’s South China Sea Fleet, with four ships and the North Sea Fleet, with four ships (the Chinese Navy is divided into three fleets, the North Sea Fleet, the South China Sea Fleet, and the East China Sea Fleet, named after the three oceans in China’s exclusive economic zone).
In the current and even future informationized naval warfare, high-value large and medium-sized surface combat platforms are facing increasingly severe survival tests. The Type 052C/D destroyers, which are currently the largest number of destroyers equipped by the Chinese Navy, have almost no potential for deep upgrades because their hull structures have been finalized and their displacement and internal space redundancy are very limited. Therefore, the Type 055 is more needed. The Chinese Navy has a very fast equipment iteration speed for this 10,000-ton destroyer. Eight 12,000-ton cruisers were completed in three years. Now it has been stopped for several years. The author believes that this is because the Chinese Navy is waiting for the maturity of high-tech equipment such as integrated power systems.
Main performance
The Type 055 has a full load displacement of 12,000 to 13,000 tons, a length of about 181 meters, a beam of 19 meters, a draft of 6.6 meters, and uses a fully fueled combined power (COGAG) with a maximum speed of about 30 knots. Full fuel combined power refers to a combined power unit consisting of multiple gas turbines. Two to four gas turbines of the same model with larger power are configured on the same shaft system. The power required for the ship is different when sailing at low and high speeds. According to the speed requirements, some gas turbines can be shut down or work in parallel so that each gas turbine can work under high load.
The Type 055 is equipped with four domestically produced GT25000 high-power gas turbines. The four main engines are connected in parallel, driving one main shaft and one propeller respectively. At high speed, all four engines are fully turned on, and at low speed, one or two of them are turned on. The total power of its power system exceeds 112,000 kilowatts. (The Burke-class is equipped with four LM2500-30 gas turbines with a total power of 78,000 kilowatts, running at a speed of more than 30 knots). The abundant power of the Type 055 has laid a solid foundation for future transformation and upgrading.
Based on the ample hull space, the 055 type is equipped with two hangars. This is also the third active destroyer of the Chinese Navy with double hangars, which can accommodate two Z-20 anti-submarine helicopters.
The shipborne weapon system of the 055 type is mainly 64 units at the bow and 48 units in the middle of the ship, totaling 112 units of vertical launch devices, which is nearly doubled compared with the previous generation 052D destroyer. The 112 launch units of the 055-class can be used in both hot and cold racks, and can launch various types of air, land, ship and submarine weapons in service, including the "Hongqi" 16 and "Haihongqi" 9 air defense missiles, the "Yingji" 18 cruise missiles, the new generation of anti-submarine missiles and hypersonic missiles, with powerful multi-level air defense, land, anti-submarine and anti-ship strike capabilities. The vertical launch system of the 055-class is 9 meters high and can accommodate large missiles. There is a video on the Internet of the 055-class sending anti-ship ballistic missiles (military experts generally believe it is the "Yingji" 21). This is the first time that an anti-ship ballistic missile has been launched on a ship.
The shipborne weapons of the 055 type also include a 130mm stealth naval gun at the bow, a 24-unit "Hongqi" 10 short-range air defense missile and two 11-tube 30mm close-in defense guns above the hangar. These shipborne weapons and electronic warfare systems together provide the last line of defense for the entire ship.
The integrated mast, dual-band radar and integrated radio frequency system of the 055 type are the most important systems of this ship. In view of the increasingly severe situation of anti-stealth, anti-supersonic and even anti-hypersonic weapons, the dual-band radar can well improve and perfect the ability of air detection and target tracking and identification. The four-sided phased array radar on the Type 055 bridge is an S-band active phased array radar for long-range detection and tracking. Due to the large size of the ship, the radar array surface has increased by about 40% compared with the Type 052D, and the detection distance has been extended accordingly; the high-precision X-band radar on the mast is located very high and has better detection capabilities for low-altitude and over-the-horizon targets. Integrated radio frequency technology is the core of the entire shipborne electronic system. The Type 055 uses the shipborne background signal processing system to conduct comprehensive real-time processing and analysis of all radar information, with faster response speed and tracking accuracy. It can simultaneously realize radar, electronic warfare, communication, navigation and target identification functions, and complete resource sharing. The Type 055 has been fully informationized.
Summary
China suspended construction after the completion of the first batch of 8 ships, but this is definitely not the last 8 055s. I think this is the Chinese Navy waiting for new technical upgrades.
I speculate on the improvement direction of the next generation 055.
1 Equipped with integrated power system. The medium voltage DC integrated power system has been installed on the Type 003 aircraft carrier, and the Type 003 aircraft carrier has completed outfitting and started sea trials. The integrated power system can greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the ship (I will publish an article later to explain the integrated power systems of China and the United States in detail), and the next generation of 055 will definitely not be absent.
2 Stealth design. The current 055 integrated mast is still a bit messy, and the stealth design of the ship is not thorough. This should be an important point of improvement.
The Type 055 destroyer is a symbol of the transformation of the Chinese Navy. As Chinese capital goes to the world, it is not surprising that China manufactures this kind of ocean-going equipment. Competition among major powers has entered a climax.
