Type 903 replenishment ship Honghu 963 Fuchi Class

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

The Type 903 replenishment ship (NATO reporting name: Fuchi-class, also known as Qiandaohu-class) entered service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy in 2003. The class' chief designer was Zhang Wende (张文德). After two units completed, a pair of slightly modified units designated as Type 903A followed, and the main difference between Type 903 and Type 903A is that the displacement of the latter is increased to 23,000 tons from the original 20,500 ton. The ships are 171 meters long and displacing 22,000 tons at full load, with an armament of two Type 76A 37mm twin guns. The new oiler are of the same design as the Similan class (Hudong-Type R22T, named after the Similan Islands National Park off Thailand's West Coast, the best diving in Thailand) built for the Royal Thai Navy in 1995, and is comparable to the smaller French DURANCE class AOR. Like the Similan oiler, the ship has a flight deck and a hangar for one helicopter.