Han class

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Type 091
The fifth boat of the class on the surface
The fifth boat of the class on the surface
Ship data
country ChinaPeople's Republic of China (naval war flag) China
Ship type Nuclear powered hunting submarine
Shipyard Bohai Shipyard , Huludao
Construction period 1970 to 1991
Units built 5
period of service Since 1974
Ship dimensions and crew
length
96 m ( Lüa )
width 10 m
Draft Max. 7.4 m
displacement surfaced: 4,572 t
submerged: 5,639 t
 
crew 75
Machine system
machine 1 pressurized water reactor 90  MW th
propeller 1
Armament

6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes

The Type 091 (in Chinese spelling as Type 09I , according to the NATO code as Han class ) is a class of five nuclear-powered hunting submarines of the Navy of the People's Republic of China . With the strategic submarine Changzheng 6 (type 092), the boats of the class belong to the 1st generation of Chinese nuclear submarines.

history

Planning and construction

The planning program started in the late 1950s. However, the Soviet Union stopped its support for the Chinese development program, so that it largely had to fall back on its own developments. Because of this, the program was suspended for two years in 1963. Then a first reactor on land was built and tested. Even after that, it took years before the results were visible: The first boat of the class was not launched in Huludao until 1970, and it was put into service in August 1974.

The complex steps involved in manufacturing a nuclear submarine created numerous problems with the first boat in its class, including increased radiation exposure to the crew. Attempts were made to eliminate the design weaknesses in the circuits for the reactor cooling and the turbines when building the second boat, which only partially succeeded.

The production of Han class boats continued, ending with the fifth boat (number 405), which entered service in 1991.

The first two boats were overhauled in the late 1980s, another two around the turn of the millennium. It is believed that 2 or 3 of the original 5 boats were decommissioned as early as 2007.

The boats have been supplemented and partially replaced by the eight units of the 093 (Shang class) since 2006 .

technology

The type 091 in profile

The boats are around 106 meters long and when submerged they displace around 5500  tons of water. At the beginning, the Hans were very loud and far less efficient compared to Western and Soviet units; this seems to have partially improved through the overhaul. Tom Clancy stated in his non-fiction book "Atom-U-Boot" that the boats were in terms of performance comparable to the American Skipjack class or the Soviet Victor I class . In this book he wrote about the performance of the Han boats that they were "fast and better than nothing".

The armament consists of six torpedo tubes with a caliber of 533 millimeters. The boats are powered by a pressurized water reactor that drives the shaft via a turbo-electric configuration.

units

Identifier Surname Shipyard Launch Commissioning Decommissioning
401 Changzheng 1 (长征 1, "Long March 1") Bohai Shipyard , Huludao 1970 1st August 1974 2000
402 Changzheng 2 (长征 2, "Long March 2") 1977 December 30, 1980 2004
403 Changzheng 3 (长征 3, "Long March 3") 1983 December 25, 1984 -
404 Changzheng 4 (长征 4, "Long March 4") 1987 1988 -
405 Changzheng 5 (长征 5, "Long March 5") 1990 1991 -

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Stephen Saunders: Jane's Fighting Ships, Edition 2015-2016 . United Kingdom, 2015. p. 130.
  2. ^ A b Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein, William S. Murray: China's future nuclear submarine force . US Naval Institute Press, 2007, ISBN 1-59114-326-8 , pp. 84-86
  3. ↑ Eric Wertheim: The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems . US Naval Institute Press, 2007, ISBN 1-59114-955-X , p. 111