Wolei class minelayer
Encyclopedia
Type 918 Wolei class minelayer is the sole minelayer in the People's Liberation Army Navy
, numbered 814. The project was first designed by the 708th institute in 1981, Mr. Ma Jinghua (馬錦華) was the general designer, and all of the onboard subsystem was completed in 1984. Dalian Shipyard begin the construction of the ship in 1984 and completed the unit in 1988. Although successful, no more minelayers were ordered because most other naval vessels in the PLAN inventory are also capable of laying mines. This class, however, does have advantage over other platforms in that it can lay conformal mines, i.e. mines with irregular shapes instead of the ordinary cylindrical and spherical shapes, and conformal mines are much harder to be detected and identified. The mine laying process is fully computerized and both the hardware and software have been upgraded to accommodate new weapons and tactics. In addition to lay mines, this ship is also extensively equipped as a supply ship, and has been deployed in supply mission much more frequent than as a minelayer.
People's Liberation Army Navy
The People's Liberation Army Navy is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army , the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation...
, numbered 814. The project was first designed by the 708th institute in 1981, Mr. Ma Jinghua (馬錦華) was the general designer, and all of the onboard subsystem was completed in 1984. Dalian Shipyard begin the construction of the ship in 1984 and completed the unit in 1988. Although successful, no more minelayers were ordered because most other naval vessels in the PLAN inventory are also capable of laying mines. This class, however, does have advantage over other platforms in that it can lay conformal mines, i.e. mines with irregular shapes instead of the ordinary cylindrical and spherical shapes, and conformal mines are much harder to be detected and identified. The mine laying process is fully computerized and both the hardware and software have been upgraded to accommodate new weapons and tactics. In addition to lay mines, this ship is also extensively equipped as a supply ship, and has been deployed in supply mission much more frequent than as a minelayer.
Specifications
- Displacement: 3,100 t
- Length: 93.8 m
- Beam: 14.4 m
- Draft: 4 m
- Speed: 18 kt
- Range: 7,000 nm @ 14 kt
- Propulsion: 4 diesel engines @ 6,400 hp with 2 shafts
- Complement: 180
- Armament: 2 Type 66 57mm guns (II x 1) and 6 Type 61 37mm guns (II x 3), up to 300 mines
- Radar: 1 navigational radar