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List of ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy

The ship types in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) include aircraft carriers, submarines, (both nuclear and conventional), amphibious transport docks, landing ships, tank, landing ships, medium, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, missile boats, submarine chasers, gunboats, mine countermeasures vessels, replenishment oilers and the various auxiliaries.

All ships and submarines currently in commission with the Navy were built in China, with the exception of s, s and aircraft carrier , as these vessels originated from the former Soviet Union.

Active ships

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) operates the largest naval fleet in the world by the number of commissioned vessels. The PLAN is rapidly building and commissioning new naval ships. PLAN operates more than 400 vessels without auxiliary ships. Various auxiliary ships together number approximately 230. The fleet is supported by the People's Liberation Army Navy Air Force and People's Liberation Army Navy Coastal Defense Force. As of 2026, the PLAN's major combat forces include three aircraft carriers, four amphibious assault ships, and eight amphibious transport docks. The PLAN fleet also includes over 70 nuclear and conventionally powered submarines (including reserve). The major surface combatants fleet is heavily modernized and centered around more than 60 multirole destroyers, notably the advanced Type 055 and Type 052D classes, as well as more than 50 modern frigates and 50 corvettes. China also modernized its comparably older generation active destroyer classes with vertical launching systems (VLS), the latest weaponry and sensors. The major surface combatants are also supported by a large number of missile boats and mine countermeasures vessels. The navy also operates a large number of landing ships and crafts. In addition to its frontline combatants, the PLAN maintains a massive support and projection capability comprising a large number of auxiliary vessels. The ships of the navy are strategically distributed among the North Sea, East Sea, and South Sea fleets. The China Coast Guard and Maritime Militia also operate hundreds of naval ships.

The tables below list the various ships according to their class and date of commission. The newest class of ship is listed first, with proceeding classes listed afterwards, arranged in order of age and capability.

Submarines

The PLAN currently operates at least 64 submarines. However, because the Chinese government does not publish official submarine fleet data, the actual number may be higher.

Strategic ballistic missile submarines (SSBN)

Nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs)

Conventionally powered attack submarines (SSKs)

Capital surface ships including aircraft carriers

The PLAN currently operates 15 capital surface ships.

Aircraft carriers

Amphibious assault ships and drone carriers

Amphibious transport docks

Major surface combatants

The PLAN currently operates 166 or more major surface combatants.

Destroyers

Frigates

Corvettes

Small surface combatants

Fast attack crafts

Mine warfare ships

Amphibious landing ships and crafts

Amphibious warfare ships excluding the amphibious assault ships and amphibious transport docks.

Amphibious landing ships

Amphibious air-cushioned landing craft

Amphibious landing crafts

Auxiliarie ship fleet

Column headings include: "Type" (i.e. Chinese class designation), the types "NATO designation", the ships "Pennant number" (or hull number), the ships name in English and Chinese (Han 中文), ships "Displacement" in tonnes, and the "Fleet" in which it serves (e.g. North Sea Fleet, South Sea Fleet and East Sea Fleet). The "Status" column is colour coded, <span style="color:green">green</span style="color:green"> indicates relatively new and modern classes in service, while <span style="color:red">red</span style="color:red"> indicates obsolescence and being in the process of decommissioning as newer types are brought into service. A third colour, <span style="color:blue">blue</span style="color:blue">, specifically indicates a ship which is not yet in commission, but has been launched and is in the final stages of construction, or has been handed over for sea trials. Any ships with a status colour of blue is not yet counted towards the total number of active ships.

Training ships

In addition to regular training ships, some retired warships are also converted as stationary training facilities at various military academies for active use, and thus remain on Chinese naval registry.

Tracking ships

Spy ships

Fleet replenishment

Hospital Ships

Icebreakers

Diving support vessels

Rescue and salvage ships

Submarine support ships

Submersibles

Most submersibles, especially bathyscaphes are civilian agencies owned but also carry out PLAN missions, while some are jointly owned/funded and operated by Chinese military and civilian agencies.

Repair ships

Engineering Ships

Environmental research ships

General purpose research ships

Technical research ships

Oceanographic surveillance ships

Oceanographic research ships

Hydrographic survey ships

Tankers

Cargo ships

Personnel transports

Buoy tenders

Cable layers

Crane ships

Degaussing/deperming ships

Dredgers

Floating pile drivers

Range support & target ships

Torpedo trials crafts

Tugs

UAV motherships

Unmanned surface vehicles (USV)

Just like most Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s are micro-UAVs, majority of Chinese USVs are micro USVs. For better efficiency, most USVs used by PLAN are owned by Chinese civilian governmental agencies or private firms contracted by PLAN to perform various logistic tasks such as maintenance, surveying and research missions.

Unmanned underwater vehicle

Weapon trials ships

Museum ships

Museum ships only include those owned by PLAN/People's Liberation Army (PLA)/Chinese Ministry of Defense (CMoD) and thus still on Chinese naval registry, but do not include ships stricken from Chinese naval registry, such as those sold/transferred to local governments and private hands.

Decommissioned ships

Decommissioned ships of PLAN only include those with every ship of the class has been struck from the Chinese naval registry, but do not include those classes with ships retired from frontline service and converted to auxiliaries, and thus still commissioned and thus remain on the Chinese naval registry.

Submarines

Principal surface combatants

  • Changbai & Nanning, that were ex-ROCS Gu'an & Coastal Defense No 7, which in turn, were ex-Imperial Japanese Navy Ship (IJNS) Oki & Manju, 2 Etorofu-class escort ships. Used by PLAN as Coastal defence ships (CDS) & retired in 1982 & 1979 respectively.
  • Changsha, No 48, No 49, Jinan, Wuchang & Xi'an, that were ex-ROCS Jie(接) 12, ex-Soviet CKP-48 corvette, ex-Soviet CKP-49 corvette, ex-ROCS Weihai, ex-ROCS Jinan, ex-ROCS Jie(接) 14, which in turn, were respectively IJNS No 118, No 142, No 76, No 194, No 14 & No 198 of Type D escort ship. Used by PLAN as CDS & retired in 1975, 1983, 1983, 1975 (sunk as a target), 1956 & 1975 respectively.
  • Chongqing, a light cruiser of ROCN of same name, which was ex-. Defected to PLA on February 25, 1949, and sunk by RoCAF in the following month.
  • Handan, Huaiyang (ship), Yancheng & Zunyi, all of them were Ruijin-class armed merchantman respectively converted from ex-Hoary stock, ex-Golden fragrant flower (金香花), ex-Clove Flower & ex-Dezhou, all of which were cargo ships of US coastal freighter Design 330D.
  • Ji'an & Shenyang, which were ex-ROCS Ji'an & Huang'an, which in turn, were IJNS No 85 & 81 of Type C escort ships, Both were used by PLAN as CDS, with the former defected to PLA on April 23, 1949, and subsequently sunk by RoCAF on April 28, 1949, and the latter converted to acoustic research ship in 1966 after retired from the frontline service, and finally retired in 1980.
  • Kaifeng, re-armed cargo ship Xiang De (祥德) converted from ex-, a . Retired in 1989.
  • Linyi, re-armed cargo ship He Le (和乐) converted from ex-. Retired in 1972.
  • Luoyang, re-armed cargo ship Xiang Xing (祥兴) converted from ex-. Retired in 1982.
  • Ruijin & Xingguo, 2 Ruijin-class armed merchantmen converted from ex-Jiang Tong (江通) & ex-Jiang Da (江达), 2 cargo ships of US coastal freighter Design 381. The first unit was the first ship in PLAN named “Ruijin”, & sunk by RoCAF P-47s in 1954.
  • Ruijin, a CDS that was ex-ROCS Hui'an, which in turn, was ex-IJNS Shisaka, an . Second PLAN ship named as Ruijin, used by PLAN as CDS & retired in 1990.
  • Type 6601/01/65/053H/053H2/053H2G frigates
  • Type 051D/051DT/051Z/051G/051G1/051G2 destroyers
  • The original Type 056 corvettes were handed to the Chinese Coast Guard, with their missiles removed.

Coastal & riverine warfare vessels

  • The majority of Type 037IG missile boats(except for Laixi, Qufu and Shouguang) were decommissioned; two Type 037IGs, the Yuqing and the Shanghang were preserved as museum ships.

Amphibious warfare ships

Mine warfare vessels

Naval auxiliaries

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading