AOR Fuchi / Qiandaohu Replenishment Oiler
On 29 March 2003 the PLA launched a newly designed AOR, Qiandaohu No. 886, at which time a second was reported building. Initially it was suggested that the ships were probably from the Dalian Shipyard, but later sources report they were from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai. Her sister ship Weishanhu (887) was built by Huangpu Shipyard based in Guangzhou. The first-of-class was commissioned by the East Sea Fleet in April 2004. The second hull was launched in June 2003 and commissioned by the South Sea Fleet in late 2004. This class of ship was given a reporting name Fuchi class by the NATO.
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. The No. 886 class is powered by two license-built French-designed SEMT-Pielstick 12,000 brake-horsepower [BHP] diesel engines.
The pair of new No. 886 class AORs brought to five the total number of PLA Navy underway supply ships. The new class followed the Fuqing class, of which two units were built, and was needed to support the new Guangzhou-class (Type 052B/C) destroyers. Even this small number of AORs may be sufficient to sustain two groups of modern naval combatants for a blockade mission focused on Taiwan.
Japan increased its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) out to 200 miles around its islands in 1996, and it overlapped China's EEZ in this area. After that began a noticeable increase in Chinese warships, research vessels and oil exploration vessels operating in and around the EEZ. China escalated its visibility when it sent a Sovremenny-Class ship, the most modern PLAN warship, into the waters of the Chunxiao oil-field on January 22, 2005. There was further escalated in September 2005 when a task group of five ships cruised Japanese EEZ oil-field waters. The flagship was Sovremenny hull 137, accompanied by Jianghu frigates 515 and 517, the 23,000-ton replenishment support ship Fuchi hull 886 and the 6,000-ton space event/intelligence ship Dongdiao, which bore hull number 851. Dongdiao, was hull number 232 when it intruded in 2000, indicating that Dongdiao had moved from the East Sea Fleet to the North Sea Fleet.
1 Chinese-built replenishment oiler (Project R22T) [AOR] Bldr: SY, Dalien 871 SlMILAN Laid down 12-94 L 9-11-95 In serv. 12-8-96 Similan (871) Royal ... HTMS Similan (AOE 871) Similan replenishment oiler Displacement: 23,000 tons full load Dimensions: 171.4 x 24.6 x 9 meters (562.3 x 80.7 x 29.5 feet) Propulsion: 2 diesels, 2 shafts, 24,000 hp, 19 knots Crew: 130 + 53 transients Aviation: aft helicopter deck & dual hangars Cargo: 9,000 tons Armament: 4 twin 37 mm Chinese-built. Number Name Year FLT Homeport Notes 871 Siliman 1996
