P.L.A.N. JiangHu Destroyer, T.56 Corvette, T.22 Missile boat, T.37 Corvettes

The Type 053 frigates were a family of Chinese ships that served with the People’s Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, and a small number of foreign navies.

The designation of ships and subclasses is somewhat confusing. Chinese nomenclature temporarily changed during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and some subclasses gained different NATO reporting names.

The Type 056 (NATO reporting name: Jiangdao) is a class of corvette deployed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). They replace older patrol craft and some of the Type 053H frigates.^[5] The first Type 056 entered service in February 2013.^[6] An anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant, commonly known as Type 056A, has also entered service.^[7] Following construction of the Aba in December 2019, China ceased building of Type 056 corvettes to focus on procuring bigger warships for high sea missions.^[8]

Two 1800 ton patrol variant, P18N has been delivered to Nigeria^[9] and four 1300 ton corvette variant has been sold to Bangladesh.^[10]

The Type 22 (NATO designation: Houbei class)^[5] missile boat is a ship class in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy. The first boat was launched in April 2004 by the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard at Shanghai. The boats incorporate stealth features and are based on Australian-designed wave-piercing catamaran hulls that are more stable than other fast missile craft in high sea conditions.^[6] Approximately 83 of these missile boats are currently in service with three flotillas having been produced over a span of seven years.^[1]

The Type 037 corvette is a series 400–500 ton corvette type classes in service with the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Unlike western navies, the People’s Liberation Army Navy does not have dedicated patrol boats in its inventory. Instead, a large variety of corvette type classes, in the form of missile boats and submarine chasers fulfill the tasks of patrolling China‘s territorial waters. The Egyptian Navy operates eight vessels.