Shan-class landing ship tank

The Shan class landing ship tank is an extensively modernized US Navy LST-1 class boat originally developed in the 1940s. The landing ship , also known as the tank landing ship, has a displacement of 600-10 000 tons and can carry several to dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers. Its cruising capacity is generally 200-6000 km, and the speed is 20-40 km/h. This allows the landing troops to reach the landing point directly from the starting point, without the need to transfer in the middle, greatly simplifying and speeding up the landing process. The ability is much stronger than the landing craft. The world's first landing ship was converted from a British tanker in the early days of the Second World War. In 1940, the UK built the first LST1 class large landing ships.

Prior to the advent of dedicated landing ships, landing operations were carried out using the ship's rafts and requisitioned civilian ships. The ancient Greek and Roman fleets have repeatedly transported heavy armored infantry to land on the Mediterranean coast. In the fifteenth century BC, the Egyptian Pharaoh also led several ships to land in Syria. In the Middle Ages, the Crusaders first used a flat-bottomed transport ship with a "gate". The ship opened to the beach and the "gate" opened. The knights jumped into the bay and went straight to the coast. All these vessels used to transport the soldiers can be called the ancient "landing ship", which is the prototype of the modern landing ship.

The landing ship, also known as the tank landing ship, has a displacement of 600-10 000 tons and can carry several to dozens of tanks and hundreds of soldiers. Its cruising capacity is generally 200-6000 km, and the speed is 20-40 km/h. This allows the landing troops to reach the landing point directly from the starting point, without the need to transfer in the middle, greatly simplifying and speeding up the landing process. The ability is much stronger than the landing craft. The world's first landing ship was converted from a British tanker in the early days of the Second World War. In 1940, the UK built the first LST1 class large landing ships. Since then, a number of landing ships have been built in some countries. After the war, the landing ship increased its speed, added a helicopter platform, equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, and used side-stage propellers and new landing devices to greatly improve tactical technical performance.

The Tank landing ship is a landing ship mainly based on transporting tanks. It has a large displacement, large size and large load. It is a type of landing ship that was more developed during the Second World War and after the war. One of the most obvious features of a tank landing ship is its huge tank bay for tanks and other combat equipment.Tank landing ship tank landing shipThere are two types of tank landing ships: large and medium-sized landing ships with displacements of 2000 to 10,000 tons, endurance of more than 3,000 nautical miles, and can load 10 to 20 tanks and hundreds of landing soldiers. The medium-sized tank landing ship has a full displacement of 600-1000 tons and a range of more than 1000 nautical miles. It can load several tanks and about 200 people. The speed of the tank landing ship is 12-20 knots. It is equipped with several doors and is easy to sail in the near beach and shallow waters. The first tank landing ship in human history was converted from a tanker during the Second World War.

The first one that fell into the hands of the People's Liberation Army was the "Heyong" among the eight "He" tank landing craft. It was just handed over by the US military on January 20, 1947. On the morning of June 7, it was sent to block the coast of northern Jiangsu. In the process of chasing the fishing boat, he was lured by the fishing boat into the shallow water near Beicun, South Bank of Biandan Port, Sheyang County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, and was sucked by the sand. Hearing the news, more than 1,000 militiamen surrounded the warship, and the crew hid. After entering the cabin and leaving, the militia pretended to be the warship to replenish food and fresh water, deceived the captain, Warrant Officer Hou Jing, to leave the boat, and forcibly boarded the boat, capturing the "Heyong".

The next day, the militiamen took advantage of the high tide to drag the warship away from the ground and sailed to the Fayang River to moor. Since the militia could not operate the warship, the original crew stayed on the boat and sent a squad of soldiers to guard the boat. The troops all organized cadres and soldiers to visit. On September 28, the guard squad leader went ashore to collect food. The original crew took the opportunity to lock the guard soldiers in the cabin and then drove the ship to flee. However, because they were not familiar with the river, they ended up on the south bank of Haikou. Grounded, the original crew abandoned the boat and fled north, and was captured by the local militia. The "Heyong" boat was handed over to the coastal defense column of the Central China Military Region, and soldiers were dispatched to form new crew members. They participated in the fight against pirate ships.

It was sunk in Doulong Port, Sanlong Town, Dafeng District, Yancheng City, and more than half of the crew were injured. On the 11th, it carried more than 2,500 people from the Huangpu Wharf in Shanghai to Fujian. The commander of the third paratrooper regiment, Liu Nongli, announced the uprising and asked the captain to divert to Qingdao and arrived at Lianyungang at 6 am on the 15th. The personnel went ashore to contact the People's Liberation Army, and then entered Lianyungang, becoming the People's Liberation Army's first US-made tank landing ship.

In the Battle of Crossing the River, the PLA also obtained "Meisheng" and "Lianguang" Infantry Landing Ships, as well as a "Xing'an" repair ship converted from a tank landing ship. As the PLA moved south, some landing ships fled to Taiwan, and some Fleeing to Hong Kong, some of them were abandoned on the mainland. A total of 17 tank landing ships joined the People's Navy, and some of them entered the shipping department in poor condition. These American tank landing ships were large in tonnage, shallow in draft and considerable in volume, except for In addition to transporting tanks and infantry during the landing exercise, it also undertakes a large number of tasks of transporting materials.

The Navy meticulously maintained these old ships until the mid-1990s. All the tank landing ships still in service have updated their communication equipment and replaced them. Equipped with a new type of navigation radar and search radar, these tank landing ships are named after Chinese mountains, such as "Jinggang Mountain", "Purple Mountain", "Dabie Mountain", etc. The number of the ship starts with 3 or 9. Used so far. These "Shou Xing" ships with about 50 years of age have all withdrawn from the combat sequence, and there is currently one Dabieshan on display in the Qingdao Naval Museum.