Wolei class minelayer

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The Wolei class minelayer is the sole minelayer in the People's Liberation Army Navy, numbered 814. The project was first designed by the 708th institute in 1981 and Dalian Shipyard completed the unit in 1988. Although successful, no more minelayers were ordered because most other naval vessels in the PLAN inventory are also capable of laying mines. This class, however, does have advantage over other platforms in that it can lay conformal mines, i.e. mines with irregular shapes instead of the ordinary cylindrical and spherical shapes, and conformal mines are much harder to be detected and identified. The mine laying process is fully computerized and both the hardware and software have been upgraded to accommodate new weapons and tactics. In addition to lay mines, this ship is also extensively equipped as a supply ship, and has been deployed in supply mission much more frequent than as a minelayer.

[edit] Specifications

• Displacement: 3,100 t
• Length: 93.8 m
• Beam: 14.4 m
• Draft: 4 m
• Speed: 18 kt
• Range: 7,000 nm @ 14 kt
• Propulsion: 4 diesel engines @ 6,400 hp with 2 shafts
• Complement: 180
• Armament: 2 Type 66 57mm guns (II x 1) and 6 Type 61 37mm guns (II x 3), up to 300 mines
• Radar: 1 navigational radar