China honours Nanchang destroyer as ‘role model’ and hails role in ‘fending off foreign military provocation’

The Type 055 stealth warship was sent to monitor a foreign carrier group during a 2022 exercise in the Pacific, according to state media
The ship was reported to have tracked foreign warplanes throughout the incident in the Pacific ‘in the face of long-time, high-intensity harassment’

China’s military

Cyril Ip

Published: 8:00pm, 8 Jan 2024

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China’s Communist Party has honoured one of its most advanced guided-missile destroyers as a “role model of the times” for a series of missions, including an incident where it “fended off foreign military provocation” during a combat drill.

The People’s Liberation Army Type 055 destroyer, which was commissioned in 2020, was given the title on Sunday by the Communist Party Central Committee’s Publicity Department, according to state news agency Xinhua.

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The ship is part of the strike group led by the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.

In a training mission with the Liaoning, the Nanchang consecutively maintained combat status for more than 20 days and fended off foreign military provocations head-on, the report said.

During a training exercise in the western Pacific in 2022, the Nanchang was ordered to sail out to face directly a carrier formation from an unnamed foreign country, according to the state broadcaster CCTV.

It was the first time the destroyer had encountered such a formation and “in the face of long-time, high-intensity harassment”, it “expanded the depth of defence, ensured the space for manoeuvre and effectively fulfilled the sacred duty of guarding the carrier formation”, CCTV said.

“When the foreign military aircraft gradually made approaches, our early warning and detection systems tracked and locked on them through their entire courses. We firmly and strongly fended off foreign military provocations,” Zhou Yinlong, a crew member, told the broadcaster.

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The warship was also a part of the “Joint Sea 2021” exercise held by China and Russia, alongside other Chinese destroyers. The exercise was followed by three joint naval patrols between the two countries, the latest one being in July.

The Nanchang has also undergone confrontation training and expeditionary drills, and recently completed 40 training courses over three days to “hone its tactics and methods”, according to Xinhua.

The Nanchang is one of eight Type 055 Renhai class destroyers in service. They are the most advanced destroyer class in the PLA and, as the first ship in its class, the Nanchang’s commissioning marked the navy’s leap from third-generation to fourth-generation destroyers.

The warship, developed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation, has stealth capabilities and is equipped with air-defence, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons. It is one of its most advanced warships of its type in the world.

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In more than three years of service, the Nanchang has logged over 100,000 nautical miles (185,200km) and fulfilled more than 10 major missions, including a voyage into the Bering Sea, combat patrols in the Pacific and exercises around disputed islands in the South China Sea, according to CCTV.

“We have conducted a series of exercises to test this warship’s overall situational awareness. During these training activities, we were able to complete the assigned tasks in aircraft carrier formations, whether in short-range or long-range defence,” Yu Tao, a sailor on the destroyer, told the news channel.