China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has commissioned the final two Jiangdao-class corvettes, bringing the total number of vessels of the class in PLAN service to 72, according to Chinese state-owned media.
The final two ships to enter service – both of which are of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW)-capable Type 056A variant – are Nanyang (pennant number 619) and Shangqiu (618). They were commissioned on 30 January and early February, respectively, although the locations of the ceremonies were not disclosed.
A screengrab from CCTV 7 footage released on 16 February shows Type 056A corvette Nanyang . The vessel (pennant number 619), along with Shangqiu (618), are the final two ships of the Jiangdao class to enter service with the PLAN.
Photographs of two other ships of the class, with pennant numbers 636 and 637, appeared online in early February and showed the vessels flying pennants normally associated with commissioning/decommissioning ceremonies, suggesting that these ships also entered service recently. Although the monikers are unconfirmed, online sources give the names of these ships as Jining and Shiyan , respectively.
The Jiangdao class comprises 22 Type 056 and 50 Type 056A variants. All vessels are equipped with a 76 mm gun and four deck-mounted missile launchers capable of firing YJ-83 anti-ship missiles and Yu-8 torpedo-carrying anti-submarine projectiles. The key difference between the two variants is that the Type 056A is equipped with a towed passive sonar line array and a towed active variable depth sonar, which should give the platforms a significant ASW capability.
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