Tuo Chiang class corvette

Class overview
Name:	Tuo Chiang class
Builders:	LUNG TEH Shipbuilding, Yilan County, Taiwan
Operators:	Republic of China Navy
Preceded by:	Gin Chiang patrol boat
Cost:	NT$2.2 billion (US$72.39 million)[1]
In commission:	2012–
Planned:	12
Active:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Coastal Corvette
Displacement:	500 tonnes full load [2]
Length:	60 m (200 ft)(Length on cushion)
Beam:	14 m (46 ft)
Draught:	2.3 m (7.5 ft)
Speed:	71 km/h (38 knots)
Complement:	41
Sensors and processing systems:	Navigational Radar CS/SPG-6N(S) Surface Search Radar Towed-Array Sonar 1 x CS/SPG-6N(T) Fire Control Radar
Electronic warfare and decoys:	12 counter-IR/RF chaff dispensers (6 bow and stern)[3]
Armament:	8 × Hsiung Feng II 8 × Hsiung Feng III 1 × Otobreda 76 mm 1 × Phalanx CIWS 2 × 12.7mm Browning M2HB 2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo launcher (one port and one starboard)[3]
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck,[3] primarily for VERTREP

The Tuo Chiang class corvette (Chinese: 沱江; literally: "Tuo River") is a class of fast and stealthy multi-mission corvette built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. Developed under the Hsun Hai (Chinese: 迅海; literally: "Swift Sea") program, the Tuo Chiang class corvette is intended to take over some of the lower-intensity missions currently undertaken by larger and more-expensive frigates and destroyers as well as, in wartime, to function as an asymmetrical counter to larger warships of any hostile navy. This class is thus designed to possess superior seakeeping than ROCN's previous and current patrol craft while also being capable of hit-and-run tactics and armed with a total of sixteen anti-ship missiles (AShM), including eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight supersonic Hsiung Feng III missiles. The prototype ROCS Tuo Chiang (PG-618) was launched on March 14, 2014^[4] and commissioned on December 23, 2014. Eleven more ships of the class are planned.

Development

The program was announced by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) on April 12, 2010.^[5] Local media has dubbed the vessel as a "Carrier Killer" due to it being armed with supersonic anti-ship missiles. As Tuo Chiang class is designed to address common weakness of traditional small warships such as patrol craft and corvettes (namely poor seakeeping, a significant handicap for warships expected to sortie for extended periods of time in rough seas around Taiwan), it is expected to be armed along the line of such vessels as well, with domestically-designed subsonic Hsiung Feng II and supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles (AShM) as its primary armament.

Developed by the Naval Shipbuilding Center in Kaohsiung, concept images of the vessel were first made public at the Republic of China Armed Forces Museum in Taipei. The concept shows a wave-piercing catamaran armed with eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles launchers, a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, and a 76mm main gun.^[5]

Sources indicate that the vessel will be 60.4m long and capable of cruising up to 38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph). Taiwan Security Analysis Center (TAISAC) stated that the ship will be featuring technologies to help evade radar detection, a combat system that include a distributed-architecture combat direction system developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology "together with an indigenous search/track and fire-control radar and electro-optical director", according to TAISAC director Fu S. Mei.^[6][7][8] On December 14, 2010 the ROCN has explained that the program has been delayed due to lack of budget.^[9]

In 2011, the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan approved a NT$24.98 billion (US$853.4 million) budget to fund the construction of up to 12 ships.^[10]

On April 18, 2011 a top military officer and a lawmaker announced that the construction of a 500 ton prototype wil begin in 2012.^[11] In the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in 2013, the Navy unveiled a model of the Hsun Hai project corvette.^[12]

The prototype of the Hsun Hai program was named and christened on Friday, March 14, 2014 as ROCS Tuo Chiang (PG-618) in honor of the gunboat that was a combatant in the 9-2 Sea Battle during Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.^[13]

The christened vessel will have a maximum speed of 38 knots and a range of 2,000 nautical miles. It is 60.4 meters in length and 14 meters wide, carries a crew of 41 personnel, is armed with eight Hsiung Feng II sub-sonic anti-ship missiles, eight Hsiung Feng III super-sonic anti-ship missiles, a 76mm main gun (Mk 75 with locally-designed and -refitted low-observable gunhouse exterior) and a 20mm CIWS.^[14] The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft (6.1–9.1 m) high.^[3]

On December 23, 2014 during the ship's handover ceremony to the ROCN, Yen Ming, the then Minister of National Defense, declared that this corvette is without a doubt the fastest and the strongest in Asia.^[15]

Ships of Class

References

External links

• "Fast-attack boat efficacy questioned" by J. Michael Cole