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Haijing 31239

Japan's Coast Guard officials said 3 Chinese patrol ships temporarily entered Japan's territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on 26 December 2015. A Chinese coast guard ship equipped with what appeared to be four gun turrets was sighted near disputed islands in the East China Sea. Chinese coast guard vessels regularly sail near the islets, but this was the first time an armed Chinese coast guard ship had been spotted in the area.

The Haijing 31239, believed to be carrying four cannons, cruised along Minamikojima island in the afternoon, together with the Haijing 2102, 2307 and 2308, according to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture.

CG 31239 is a former type 053H2G Jiangwei I frigate, at 2,250 tons, converted for CG use. Four ships of the 'Jiangwei I' class were built and commissioned between 1991 and 1994. By mid-2015 work was underway to modify a pair of Type 053H2G 'Jiangwei I'-class frigates for transfer from the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to the China Coast Guard.

Before the three 053H2G missile frigates were retired and joined the Marine Police, they carried out "slimming major surgery" and removed a large number of weapons equipped on the original ship. The former main gun "79A 100mm double-ship gun" and anti-ship The missile "Eagle 83 anti-ship missile launcher" and the air defense missile "Red Flag-61 Air Defense Missile Launcher" were all removed. The front main gun and anti-aircraft missiles on the front deck were not seen after the modification. Only four 76A double 37mm guns were retained.

The Chinese coast guard’s converted frigate [31239] was fitted with auto-cannons, although the main armament has been removed. An auto- cannon is capable of rapid firing of shells. One of the Chinese frigates being modified had most of its arms removed, leaving two twin 37 millimeter mountings in place.

The CCG 31239 and CCG 31240 lost their forward dual 100 mm turret guns and the awkward SAM launchers. Also lost all their SSM's. They do seem to have retained the twin 37 mm AA guns. The air and surface search/track and fire control radars are also gone, as well as the electro-optical systems. They clearly retained the aft fire-control radar for the rear twin 37 mm AA guns.

However, there is a saying that even if most of the military equipment is removed, the three police vessels modified from the former warships can still rank among the most powerful law enforcement vessels in East Asia. Because they are equipped with four double-mounted 37mm guns on a 2,000-ton hull (a total of eight barrels, each side can simultaneously concentrate two four-armed artillery and fire at the enemy at the same time).

Spotter pictures from China showed that by August 2015 all four Type 053H2G Frigates Jiangwei I belonging to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN or Chinese Navy) had been transferred to the China Coast Guard (CCG) and are being converted into patrol vessels. Navy Frigate turned CCG ships 539, 540 and 541 were now 31239, 31240 and one with number not yet painted. First 2 digit "31" denotes Shanghai area. Third digit "2" indicate the ships are above 2000 tons and above but below 3000 tons. Last 2 digit indicate the last 2 digit of former numbers in Navy service (539, 540 and 541).

The nominally civilian white-hulled fleet is a common presence in the disputed waters, confronting fishing and coast guard vessels from other claimant nations. By not deploying its gray-hulled navy too visibly, China is seeking to avert international condemnation that might result if it tried to impose its territorial assertions with warships.

The current phase of the construction program, which began in 2012, will add over 30 large patrol ships and over 20 patrol combatants to the force by 2015. This will increase by 25 percent the overall CCG force level in a fleet that is also improving rapidly in quality. Most MLE ships are either unarmed or armed only with light deck weapons (12.7mm, 14.5mm, and 30mm guns) and generally use commercial radars and communications equipment. Several of the largest ships are equipped with helicopter landing and hangar facilities as well.

In recent years, with the development of China's economy, the phenomenon of retiring warships into sea police has gradually decreased, and more and more new dedicated law enforcement vessels have been replaced.