Zhen Hua 28
CCTV reported in February 2021 that an Army Aviation Brigade of the 71st Army conducted multi-modal training in the Yellow Sea. It was first revealed that the Army Zi-8 and Zi-19 landed on a strange-looking "Sea Relay Platform" for the supply of helicopters. The scene of crowd repair training shows that China's army and aviation have added a new approach to cross-seam operations. Such Ships Taken Up From Trade [STUFT], could quickly swell a Chinese invasion fleet.
According to the training scenario, after the multi-type helicopters flied to the target island, the transport helicopter selected a site for landing with the attack helicopter on alert overhead. Then the transport helicopter carried the mocked wounded soldiers to a civilian semi-submersible vessel for a replenishment-at-sea. During the training, the multi-role helicopters landed precisely on the deck of civilian semi-submersible vessel and quickly received fuel and ammunition supplies.
Colonel Xu Yifeng, deputy commander of the army aviation brigade under the PLA 71st Group Army, said that this training has effectively improved the pilots’ deck-landing ability on the offshore platforms and also the maintenance personnel’s comprehensive support capacity, laying a solid foundation for the cross-sea operations of the PLA Army’s helicopters.
Chinese military expert Li Jie said on 20 August 2020 that the large semi-submersible ship can take advantage of its large deck and better stability to temporarily serve as a platform to carry helicopters, an offshore parking apron, and a replenishment and repair center when performing some tasks in offshore areas, especially those with air domination. If missions are performed around large islands or reefs, a large semi-submersible ship can also be deployed at each end of the islands or reefs as maritime relay platforms to further enhance the cross-sea combat capability of the helicopters and to increase the helicopters’ combat radius. Li also believed that with the improvement of China's shipbuilding technology, the current large-tonnage civilian semi-submersible vessels with relatively advanced technology have great potential for military-civilian integration.
It is learned that the civilian semi-submersible vessel participating in the training is manufactured by the Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. The middle area of the vessel’s deck is equipped with 3 helipads, which can carry and support multiple types of helicopters in active service to conduct cross-sea operations, such as the WZ-10, WZ-19, and Z-8 helicopters.
The Diplomat reported the ship was the Zhen Hua 28, a 41,000-ton vessel built in Shanghai and used to transport massive sea cargo, such as other ships, cranes and even oil rigs. While the Zhen Hua 28 is a civilian vessel, the PLA has the ability to use some civilian vessels for purposes of national defense if necessary, and since 2016 has required certain classes of vessel to meet the military’s requirements for communication and cargo-carrying, in case they are needed.
China has dozens of dual-use semi-submersible vessels. ZPMC-OTL Marine Contractor Limited (ZOMC) is a joint venture between Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC, www.zpmc.com) and OffshoreTech LLC (OTL, www.offshoretechllc.com). ZPMC is a public listed company in Shanghai China (600320 Shanghai Stock Exchange), and OTL is a privately owned offshore engineering company in Houston Texas.
ZPMC specializes in port crane, heavy lifting vessel, pipelay vessel, jack-up drilling rig. In the past 15 years, ZPMC has built the largest number of heavy lifting vessels than any other manufacturer in the world. OTL specializes in offshore fixed and floating platforms design, transportation and installation engineering (heavy lifting and floatover). Currently ZOMC operates two heavy lifting vessels: ZH30 (12,000MT, DP2) and M2000 (2,000MT, DP1); four shearleg cranes (ranging from 1,000MT to 5,000MT); and twenty nine heavy transportation vessels, including 3 the most advanced DP2 floatover vessel ZH33, ZH1 and ZH2.
Zhen Hua 28 is 232 meters / 760 feet long with a beam of 42 meters. with a Gross Tonnage of 40015 tons the vessel has a Summer Deadweight of 47,107 tons. The vessel ZHEN HUA 28 (IMO: 8700266, MMSI 477399500) is a Heavy Load Carrier built in 1988 and since 2008 has been sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.
Hua-Zhen means "emigrant" in cantonese language, refering to rural residents flowing into towns. ZhenHua probably means “Revitalize China” in Mandarin. “Zhenhua” is an abbreviation of the phrase “zhenxing zhonghua,” often translated as “the invigoration of China.”
The "Marine Relay Platform" used in this training is a massive military-civilian semi-submersible ship with a helicopter landing sign "H" drawn on its green cargo deck, which can provide three helicopters take off and land at the same time. The name of the vessel has been retouched in all photographs, but military experts identified it as Zhen Hua 28, registered in Hong Kong and operated by the Shanghai-based ZPMC. On its deck, three landing sites were equipped, where military helicopters Z-8 and Z-19 of the People's Liberation Army of China landed for refueling and replenishment of ammunition.
The so-called semi-submersible ship is a special type of ship that specializes in transporting very large equipment. It has a large and low cargo deck between the front wheelhouse and the aft engine room. When loading cargo, the ballast tank of a semi-submersible ship is filled with water to lower the cargo deck below the surface of the water, allowing the oversized cargo to float in the proper position on the cargo deck, And then the ballast water is emptied. To float the hull to complete the tank loading operation. In this way, the semi-submersible vessel can carry oversized cargo to the destination.
Since the cargo deck of a semi-submersible ship is flat and wide, and the common area is equivalent to more than a dozen basketball courts, the ship has a strong military capability by nature and is very suitable as a supplement for an amphibious landing ship.
For example, in 2014, the US Navy equipped two 34,500-ton semi-submersible ships with an area of ??2,300 as "Mobile Landing Platform" (MLP), "Monfort Cape" and "John Grey". The cargo deck can carry heavy vehicles, helicopters, and three LCAC hovercraft. The semi-submersible ship also carries 1.44 million liters of JP-5 aviation kerosene to support hovercraft and helicopter operations.
The 78,000-ton displacement "Lewis Puller" class semi-submersible vessel was then equipped with a double deck and dedicated helicopter flight deck on the upper deck, designated the "Sea Forward Relay Base" (AFSB). China does not build a dedicated military semi-submersible ship, but takes a dual-use route. This semi-submersible ship can play an important role in the war. Firstly, semi-submersible ships can rely on their enormous transport energy to transport large amounts of heavy equipment to improve our military strategic projecting capabilities, secondly, semi-submersible ships can be used to enhance Chinese military's amphibious attack capabilities. This type of ship can be used can be used as sea bases for marine maintenance and supply platform, implement logistics support for combat equipment.
In this multi-type training, the Army Aviation Forces were clearly exploring the last two uses of semi-submersible ships, semi-submersible ships as makeshift helicopter carriers to use their larger ships. To complement amphibious ships, as the number of landing ships is insufficient.
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