East Sea Fleet

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Eastern Theater Command Navy
The People's Liberation Army Navy's jack and ensign
Active	1949–present
Country	People's Republic of China
Branch	People's Liberation Army Navy
Type	Naval fleet
Garrison/HQ	Ningbo, China
Commanders
Current commander	Vice Admiral

The Eastern Theater Command Navy (Chinese: 东部战区海军),^[1] or East Sea Fleet (ESF; Chinese: 东海舰队), is one of the three fleets of the People's Liberation Army Navy, operating in the East China Sea under the Eastern Theater Command. It was the first naval force formed by the People's Liberation Army, on 23 April 1949 and was initially based at Shanghai. Renamed in 1955, it has since been assigned to be part of the People's Liberation Army Navy and its headquarters have been moved to Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, but the fleet continues to patrol the East China Sea. Its flagship is 150 Changchun.

The fleet was used in a support role during the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) invasion of the Kuomintang-held island of Yijiangshan on 14 January 1955. It has engaged in numerous other battles against the Republic of China Armed Forces. It has also operated in support of the South Sea Fleet against the People's Army of Vietnam, particularly in the 1980s.

The fleet has been augmented by two Sovremenny-class missile destroyers, with a further 2 delivered by the end of 2006. Four Kilo class attack submarines have also joined the fleet.

Major naval bases of the fleet[]

• Ningbo Fleet Headquarters
• Shanghai Naval Base
• Xiangshan Naval Base
• Zhoushan Naval Base
• Fujian Naval Base

Ships in the fleet[]

Fleets in Dong Hai

Rescue and salvage ship

• 1 Type 925 submarine support ship (Dajiang-class)
  • (862, 崇明岛)

Destroyers

• 5 Type 052D (Luyang III-class)
  • Xiamen (154)
  • Nanjing (155)
  • Taiyuan (131)
  • Zibo (156)
  • Suzhou (132)
• 4 Type 052C (Luyang II-class)
  • Changchun (150, 长春)- flagship of the Fleet
  • Zhengzhou (151, 郑州)
  • Jinan (152, 济南)
  • Xi'an (153, 西安)
• 4 Sovremenny-class (现代, Project 956EM)
  • 956E Type
    • Hangzhou (136, 杭州)
    • Fuzhou (137, 福州)
  • 956EM Type
    • Taizhou (138, 泰州)
    • Ningbo (139, 宁波)

Frigates

• 9 Type 054A (Jiangkai II-class):
  • Zhoushan (529, 舟山)
  • Xuzhou (530, 徐州)
  • Yiyang (548, 益阳)
  • Changzhou (549, 常州)
  • Huanggang (577, 黄冈)
  • Yangzhou (578, 扬州)
  • Jingzhou (532, 荆州)
  • Xiangtan (531, 湘潭)
  • Binzhou (515, 滨州)
  • Anyang (599, 安阳)
  • Nantong (601, 南通)
• 2 Type 054 (Jiangkai I-class):
  • Ma'anshan (525, 马鞍山)
  • Wenzhou (526, 温州)
• 4 Type 053H3 Jiangwei II-class:
  • Jiaxing (521, 嘉兴)
  • Lianyungang (522, 连云港)
  • Putian (523, 莆田)
  • Sanming (524, 三明)
• 2 Type 053H1G (Jianghu V-class ):
  • Beihai (558, 北海)
  • Foshan (559, 佛山)
• 1 Type 053H (Jianghu I-class):
  • Jiujiang (516, 九江)

Corvettes

• 10 Type 056 (Jiangdao-class):
  • Bengbu (582, 蚌埠)
  • Shangrao (583, 上饶)
  • Ji'an (586, 吉安)
  • Quanzhou (588, 泉州)
  • Sanmenxia (593, 三门峡)
  • Suzhou (503, 宿州)
  • Baoding (511, 保定)
  • Heze (512, 菏泽)
  • Ningde (510, 宁德)
  • Ezhou (513, 鄂州)

Diesel-electric submarines

• 4 Kilo-class:
  • 364
  • 365
  • 366
  • 367
• 3 Type 039 (Song-class)
  • 320
  • 321
  • 322

Landing ships

• 2 Type 071 amphibious transport dock ( Yuzhao-Class):
  • Yimeng Shan (988)
  • Longhu Shan (980)
• 1 Type 072A landing ship (Yuting III-class):
  • Baxian Shan (913)
• 6 Type 072III LST (Yuting II-class):
  • Danxia Shan (934)
  • Xuefeng Shan (935)
  • Haiyang Shan (936)
  • Qingcheng Shan (937)
  • Putuo Shan (939)
  • Tiantai Shan (940)
• 1 Type 072II LST (Yuting-class):
  • Lingyan Shan (930)
• 3 Type 072 LST (Yukan-class):
  • Yuntai Shan (927)
  • Wufeng Shan (928)
  • Zijin Shan (929)

Replenishment ships

• 3 Type 903 (Fuchi-class)
  • Qiandaohu (886)
  • Chaohu (890)
  • Gaoyaohu (966)
• 1 Type 905 (Fuqing-class)
  • Poyanghu (882)

See also[]

• People's Liberation Army Navy
  • North Sea Fleet
  • South Sea Fleet

References[]

External links[]

• GlobalSecurity.org