Type 051B destroyer


DDG 167 Shenzhen in Apra Harbor, Guam
Class overview
Operators:  People's Liberation Army Navy
Preceded by: Type 052
Succeeded by: Type 051C
Cost: 2 billion renminbi yuan per ship by 1980s price
In service: 1998
Completed: 1
Active: 1
General characteristics
Displacement: 6,100 tons
Length: 153 m
Beam: 16.5 m
Draught: 6 m
Propulsion: 2 Gas or Steam turbines
Speed: 31 knots
Range: 14,000 miles
Complement: 250 (40 officers)
Sensors and
processing systems:

Combat data system - ZKJ-6 Information processing system designed by the 709th Institute (Reported speed: 10 Mbit/s)
Data link: HN-900 (Chinese equivalent of Link 11 A/B, to be upgraded)
Communication: SNTI-240 SATCOM
Rice Shield 3-D air search radar
Type 360S air/surface search radar

Type 344 fire-control radar (for 100 mm gun & SSMs)
Armament: 16 anti-ship missiles
16 HQ-7 surface-to-air missiles (8 ready to fire + reload)
1 dual 100mm gun
4 dual-37mm anti-aircraft guns
6 torpedo tubes
2 anti-submarine rocket systems
Aircraft carried: 2 helicopters: (Kamov Ka-28 or Harbin Z-9C)
Aviation facilities: Hangar accommodating 2 helicopters
Landing platform for one helicopter
Helicopter landing system

The Type 051B Luhai-class is a class of destroyer built by the People's Republic of China. It consists of only one ship, No.167 Shenzhen. When Shenzhen was commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy in 1998, it was then, the largest surface combatant that China had ever built. It resembles in many ways an enlarged version of the Luhu-class destroyer, and is one of the first PLAN ships with a slope-sided hull to reduce radar signature.

History

Shenzhen was laid down by Dalian Shipyard in Northeastern China in May 1996. The Shenzhen made the switch from the Luhu-class' Diesel-Gas-Turbines to Gas Turbine engines. Some sources claim that the ship is powered by 2 Ukrainian AM50 Gas Turbine Engines while others claim that the ship may be powered by two indigenous steam turbine engines. The Luhai-class is 2,000 tons larger than the Type 052 destroyer, Luhu-class. The launch was in 1997 although official revelation of the ship's existence did not come until the year following its commissioning. The chief designer of this class is academic, Mr. Pan Jingfu (潘镜芙), who is also the designer of the predecessor and follow-up of this class of ship.

Analysts speculated that the ship would be equipped with VLS system in the forward section for air-defense SAMs. However, when the ship was finally revealed, many were disappointed by its out-dated air-defense capability. They were still armed with the 8-cell HQ-7 SAM launcher. These SAMs lack effectiveness against sea skimming missiles with multiple approach angles. The PLAN was unhappy with the design and no further ships of this class was built.

The sole Type 051B destroyer 167 Shenzhen participated in the PLA Navy’s first goodwill visit to Africa in 2000, the first visit to Europe in 2001 and the first visit to Japan in 2007. In 2004, the ship received its mid-life modernization refit, with its original 100mm main gun and the HQ-7 air defense missile system being replaced by improved models.

Type 051B destroyer 167 Shenzhen visited Kochi, India for four days in August 2009, after deployment in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy operations.

External links