.Chapter 39: Delivery Power

Because the Chinese Navy did not strictly build an aircraft carrier battle group according to the upper limit of the "Washington Treaty", the construction of the Marine Corps is even more eye-catching. According to the provisions of the "Washington Treaty", all landing ships with displacement of more than 1,000 tons, whether they are under the name of the Navy or under the name of the Marine Corps, regardless of whether the Marine Corps is an independent branch or a branch of the military, must be included in the list of naval ships.

In other words, landing ships also occupy the total tonnage of naval ships.

Relatively speaking, the Chinese Navy has put more effort into landing fleets than the aircraft carrier battle group.

This includes historical reasons and practical factors.

In the navy, landing fleets have always been a shortcoming. By the time of the First Indian Ocean War, the total tonnage of the Chinese Navy's landing ships was less than 150,000 tons, less than 20% of the fleet. In the US Navy, this proportion was 45%, and the navies of several European countries were between 30 and 40%, and even the Russian Navy was 30%. It can be seen that the landing power of the Chinese Navy is quite weak.

Of course, this is historical reasons.

Before the First Indian Ocean War, the Chinese Navy could only be regarded as the "Yellow Water Navy", that is, it can only operate in waters close to its homeland and does not have the ability to operate from a long-distance ocean. Because there is no combat demand, the Chinese Navy did not attach much importance to landing fleets.

Not to mention anything else, when Russia gritted its teeth to build amphibious assault ships, the Chinese Navy still mainly used dock landing ships, and there was no truly amphibious assault ship. During the First Indian Ocean War, most of the ships used to attack Port Blair were dock landing ships.

It was not until then that the Chinese Navy began to pay attention to amphibious landing forces.

To be precise, it was after Mu Haoyang became the commander of the Marine Corps that the amphibious fleet received great attention.

This is also true that the Chinese Navy's amphibious landing fleet is a very "new" force. Most of the main ships have less than five years of service. Moreover, half of the battleships planned to form two amphibious landing fleets are still under construction, and most of them will not be put into service until 2034.

Among them, the most eye-catching ones are the amphibious assault ships of the Taiwan Island and the Hainan Island.

At the end of last year, the "Taiwan Island" was officially launched, and the "Hainan Island" was also launched at the beginning of this year. The installation work will be carried out until the end of 2033 and is expected to be put into service at the end of June 2034.

As the first truly amphibious assault ship of the Chinese Navy, the technical standards of the "Taiwan Island" class are very high.

During the design, Mu Haoyang proposed very clear tactical indicators: the comprehensive combat capability is no less than that of the US Navy's "Iwo Jima" class amphibious assault ship (the "Iwo Jima" class that was put into service in 2013. Before that, the US Navy also had a first-class amphibious assault ship called the "Iwo Jima" class).

High tactical standards correspond to high technical standards.

The standard displacement of the Taiwan Island is 38,500 tons, and the Hainan Island exceeds 39,000 tons, with a full load displacement of more than 46,000 tons. Like other warships, the Taiwan Island class adopts a modular design concept, and can carry more than 40 combat aircraft under standard equipment and all equipment and officers and soldiers of a strengthened land battle battalion. Generally, carrier-based aircraft are twenty-eight tilt rotary wing aircraft and eighteen helicopters, or twenty-two large helicopters and eighteen armed helicopters.

Of course, the key to the comprehensive combat capability of an amphibious assault ship is not the number of aircraft carriers.

When performing amphibious landing missions, in addition to carrying tilted rotary wing aircraft and helicopters, the "Taiwan Island" class can also carry two air cushion landing crafts with a capacity of 120 tons, or four landing crafts with a capacity of 50 tons, or eight amphibious combat vehicles.

In the landing fleet, amphibious assault ships are equivalent to aircraft carriers in aircraft carrier combat groups and are core warships.

Taking the US military's landing tactics as an example, in the landing operation, in addition to sending combat troops, the main task of amphibious assault ships is to dispatch carrier-based aircraft after the landing begins, provide firepower support to the landing Marines, and coordinate and command other landing ships.

Obviously, amphibious assault ships are the core, but not the whole.

In a landing fleet, in addition to at least one amphibious assault ship, it should also include two to three integrated landing ships and two to three dock landing ships.

Compared with amphibious assault ships, the comprehensive landing ship focuses on the ability to deliver troops.

To this end, the Chinese Navy has also built four Pyongyang-class integrated landing ships. The first two Pyongyang and Kaesong will be in service at the end of the year. The latter two Yuanshan and Ham Hing are being installed and are expected to be put into service in 2034 and will be assigned to two landing fleets respectively.

The tonnage of the "Pyongyang" class is not small, with a standard displacement of 18,000 tons and a full load displacement of 32,000 tons.

In terms of combat capabilities, in addition to carrying six large helicopters, each can carry two air cushion landing craft, four mechanical landing craft, or eight amphibious combat vehicles. What is more prominent is the carrying capacity. Each "Pyongyang" class can carry all the equipment and officers and soldiers of the two land battle battalions. In addition, each "Pyongyang" class can carry 5,000 tons of combat materials under normal circumstances, which is enough for the consumption of three land battle battalions for more than a week.

Another indispensable member of the landing fleet is the dock landing ship.

Although the dock landing ship is far inferior to the amphibious assault ship and the integrated landing ship in terms of delivery speed, the dock landing ship is the most powerful in the delivery capacity, and is the main force for the heavy combat troops, and its carrying capacity is far greater than that of other landing ships.

In the Chinese Navy, the main force is six "Cam Lan Bay" class dock landing ships.

The standard displacement of the "Kimlan Bay" class is 12,000 tons, and the full load displacement is as high as 26,000 tons. It can carry all the equipment and officers and soldiers of the three land battle battalions. Because it is not a dock landing ship in the traditional sense, the "Kimlan Bay" class mainly uses mechanical landing craft when performing landing missions. Like other warships, the "Kimlan Bay" class also adopts a modular design and can be easily converted into a landing transport ship. That is to say, when completing the landing landing, or when performing low-intensity landing tasks, it can act as a transport ship.

As a result, the two landing fleets of the Chinese Navy have six landing ships each.

According to the army-building standards proposed by Mu Haoyang, a landing fleet can send a full-staff land combat brigade in a landing operation. If two landing ships are deployed at the same time, two landing brigades with a total force of about 18,000 people can be sent. In addition to more than 20 landing ships still in service, the Marines can send two landing divisions in a landing operation and transport combat supplies for a week.

It can be said that all the construction of the Chinese Navy revolves around the upcoming war.
Chapter completed!