Type 830 tug

The Type 830 tug is a type of ship specifically developed as part of Project 518, the Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile program. Designed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the first ship entered service in December 1977. A total of three were completed, and all of them remain active as of the early 2010s, despite the fact that their replacements have already entered service. In addition to regular tugging duties, the Type 830 tug is also designed as a multi-function ship, including fire fighting ship, repair ship, and mooring tender.

The type 830 series in PLAN service is labeled with a combination of two Chinese characters followed by a three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Tuo (拖), meaning tug in Chinese, because these ships are tugs. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is in service with; for example, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention. Specification:[1]

 Type   Pennant #   Status   Fleet 
830 Dong-Tuo 830 Active East Sea Fleet
830 Bei-Tuo 710 Active North Sea Fleet
830 Nan-Tuo 154 Active South Sea Fleet

References