Haijing 2901
Coast Guard 2901, the first vessel in this class of two ships, are the largest of their kind in the world. The world's largest coast guard patrol vessels in active service are the Shikishima-class PLH31 Shikishima and PLH 32 Akitsushima of the Japan Coast Guard. With a full displacement of 9,500 tons, this class of vessel has two 35-mm twin cannons, two 20-mm guns and can carry two helicopters. The US icebreaker Healy remains the largest coastguard vessel in the world, with a displacement of 16,000 tonnes, but it primarily conducts scientific research missions in polar regions. China’s largest existing patrol ship, the Haijian 50, displaces just under 4,000 tonnes.
Coast Guard 2901 and Coast Guard 3901 each have a full displacement of 12,000 metric tons and are armed with one 76-millimeter naval cannon, two close-range defense guns and two anti-aircraft guns. In contrast, most China Coast Guard ships are unarmed or are equipped with water cannons.
On 13 December 2014, a netizen uploaded a clear photo taken at the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard. China's first Coast Guard ship with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, the "Coast Guard 2901", has been launched and completed the painting work. The "Coast Guard 2901", which is called a "monster" by foreign media, has a tonnage that exceeds all patrol ships of the Japan Coast Guard and is the world's largest Coast Guard ship. It is reported that the "Coast Guard 2901" will join the Coast Guard fleet as early as next spring and become an important tool for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
In recent years, China has attached more and more importance to the development of marine law enforcement forces. Not only did it put an end to the "Five Dragons in the Sea" situation last year, but its equipment has also been updated at an astonishing speed. China's marine law enforcement departments even achieved an advantage over the Japan Coast Guard in terms of equipment quality for the first time during the confrontation between China and Japan in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands on April 23, 2013. However, for China's vast seas, the existing coast guard ships are far from meeting the needs of high-intensity maritime patrols and law enforcement, and it is urgent to build larger tonnage and more comprehensive maritime law enforcement ships.
As early as last year, before the establishment of the China Coast Guard, Jiangnan Shipyard Chief Engineer Hu Keyi revealed that the company received an order for two 10,000-ton marine surveillance ships in December 2012. In the process of maritime rights protection in recent years, China's law enforcement departments have also accumulated rich experience, providing reliable practical experience for the construction of new ships for reference. In fact, the news about China's 10,000-ton maritime law enforcement ships was reported in an article on Japan's Fuji News Network in 2013. According to the report, China purchased up to 40 new high-power diesel engines from Germany's MAN company, and the end user will be the China Coast Guard. Japanese media speculated at the time that these diesel engines were used to build large patrol ships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons.
It is reported that the full load displacement of the "Coast Guard 2901" ship is 12,000 tons, and the speed is 25 knots. The ship is equipped with a 76mm rapid-fire naval gun, two secondary guns and two anti-aircraft machine guns, and the speed is 25 knots. Whether in terms of endurance, collision resistance, seaworthiness, speed, etc., it has a great advantage over the maritime law enforcement ships of neighboring countries. In addition, from the first number "2" of the "2901" number, it can be seen that the ship will be affiliated with the East China Sea Branch of the Coast Guard in the future, and the direction of the Diaoyu Islands will become the focus of its cruise.
On 19 May 2015, this formidable Chinese ship put to sea for the first time.
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