88 Xu Xiake - Barracks Ship
The English wikipedia reports Xu Xiake (88) "is a barracks ship of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).... When not operating as a barracks ship, Xu Xiake can also be deployed as a training ship, and when necessary, deployed as troopship to evacuate oversea Chinese from flashpoints."
When the ship is in the stage of armoring and equipment installation, the participants are mainly inside the shipyard. Others only a small number of technicians and equipment manufacturers from the design institute are on site to install technical guidance. When the mooring test phase begins, the relevant technical responsibility units of the major systems on the ship and the test teams or test personnel sent by the various equipment manufacturers will come to the ship for equipment debugging and system docking. In the complex large-scale, giant system engineering such as aircraft carriers, the number of shipboard equipment is tens of thousands, and the total number of participants is more than one thousand.
In the past, the accommodations of the test participants of various manufacturers were basically solved by the manufacturers themselves; although in principle, the participants were required to stay close to the shipyard, but due to different factors such as different travel subsidies for each unit manufacturer, the place where the participants were staying outside the place with a variety of places. This will create two problems. The first is confidentiality. Parametric personnel usually carry various technical documents and computers for debugging. It is easier to leak in environments outside the shipyard control area, such as using these computers to connect to private open networks, or to use them. Personal mobile phones discuss or transmit confidential affairs, or are contacted by external intelligence personnel, etc., and there have been such leaks in the past. Second, the scattered participants often cause problems in work coordination, such as finding specific units. When negotiating a meeting, it often takes a lot of time to find someone and traffic.
Similarly, after the aircraft carrier completes the mooring test and launches the navigation test, there will be a large number of external participants and administrative commanders working on the ship (including monitoring, observing the working conditions of the ship's equipment, making adjustments or solving problems found, etc. The testers of different units often need to cooperate and coordinate together; every time the aircraft carrier goes out to sea, he must bring all relevant test personnel to work, improve the efficiency of the test operation, and it is impossible to travel to and from the port frequently and spend a lot of time on the flight. However, the aircraft carrier itself does not have enough extra berths to accommodate the participants; according to the Chinese Navy regulations, the number of spare berths for surface ships is 5-10% of the standard number, and the number of aircraft carriers is about 2100, the largest spare berth. The number is about 210, which obviously cannot meet the needs of the aircraft carrier navigation test.
Based on these past lessons, the Chinese Navy cooperated with the construction of a comprehensive support ship from the beginning of the construction of a series of aircraft carriers such as the Varyag aircraft carrier (Liaoning), and all the external personnel involved in the berth test and navigation test are concentrated on the support ship. Living, working, meeting, and coordination are all carried out on board, greatly increasing the level of confidentiality and the rate of trial operations. In addition to carrying all the participants to the sea together with the aircraft carrier, more than 10 large and small meeting rooms were set up on the comprehensive support ship, which provided the necessary space for the work coordination and technical issues meeting of the participating units. After the start of the aircraft carrier mooring test, there is a large amount of work that needs coordination and division of labor. The participating units of each system need the venue to meet; under the general command of the project, the sub-command or the general unit is set up according to the system or the area to grasp and Coordinate the progress and problems of the project, and these sub-committees or the general units have their own dedicated meeting rooms, which is convenient for convening relevant personnel to conduct various meetings. The support of the ship's facilities provided convenient conditions for the aforementioned work meetings, which improved work efficiency and accelerated progress during the aircraft carrier test project.
In earlier times around the world, a receiving ship was essentially a nautical barracks, to house the new recruits. A receiving ship is afloat and a barracks is usually ashore. In the Age of Sail these were usually old sailing warships stripped of their guns, sails, and masts, and located at different navy yards. A receiving ship was a retired vessel converted into barracks. Warships might be decommissioned and put into service as a receiving ship, occupied with this sedentary duty.
In the age of sail, a receiving ship was one which supported press gangs, who were detailed to board all passing vessels, whether large or small, and take from them as many of the crew as possible, without actually endangering the seagoing abilities of the ship concerned. Sailors were liable, without protection and without mercy, to be dragged away by fellows, (the outcasts of human nature,) from their wives, their children and friends, on board a receiving ship, and confined, under locks and bolts, as felons; excluded from intercourse with their friends, subjected against their will to the rigor of martial law, and liable to be sent to a foreign station for an undefined period.
In the practice of the Navies of the world at the time of the Great War, a new recruit would be sent to a receiving ship because there is no other place to put him for the moment. He is berthed and fed on board and the next day he goes to his duty station. A receiving ship was the place where men are transferred from one ship or station to another. They are leaving the ship and shipmates they know for a ship and shipmates they do not know. In the old days the receiving ships were ships, but often a receiving ship wasn't a receiving ship at all. This function might be performed on shore in a buiding used for such purpose, where they perform the duties of a nominal receiving ship.
After the reform and opening up, the Guangzhou shipyard opened to the outside world and developed rapidly. By the early 1990s, it had been expanded many times. The first ship of the "Qionsha" transport ship can carry a total of 219 passengers. It carries 200 tons of cargo, 150 tons of fresh water, a speed of 16 knots, a cruising range of 3,000 nautical miles, and a self-sustaining force of 12 days and nights. It is mainly used for personnel and material transportation tasks in the South China Sea islands. Subsequent vessels include South Transport 830, 831, 832, 833.
The 88 and 89 integrated support vessels are much larger, shaped like a small displacement cruise ship, with swimming pools, basketball courts and a few hundred meters of plastic runway. However, its role is far more than just a cruise. When docked at the Dalian Shipyard, it was the accommodation and meeting coordination place of the aircraft carrier's construction units. When sailing on the sea, it was able to provide rest for a number of officers and soldiers and venue support personnel. It can be said that it is a companion floating base of the aircraft carrier.
Although China has an aircraft carrier fleet, it does not have many overseas bases. For example, the US aircraft carrier formations reach bases in any part of the world. These places can not only provide hardware maintenance for the aircraft carrier formation, but also provide opportunities for long-term expectation of officers and soldiers at sea. Obviously, in this respect, the conditions of the Chinese navy are far less than that of the US military. Therefore, the Chinese aircraft carrier formation appeared in the figure of Xu Xiake. Although there is no overseas base to take a break, China has Xu Xiake, which also makes up for the shortcomings of China's overseas support.
According to an article in the official Chinese media "China Defense News" on April 7, 2015, "A certain type of life support ship used by the troops in July 2011" (should be referred to as the 88 ship) was warmly praised by the officers and soldiers. "Marine Homeland" has become a "model ship" for the improvement of people's naval vessels' living facilities. The ship has six life guarantee functions of residence, meals, office, medical care, entertainment, and service, as well as a safety guarantee system, which greatly improves the comfort of the crew's long-term sea life. The living space of the No. 88 support vessel has humanized details, including a new invisible hammock, a sofa bed, a bedside flap table, a bedside storage box, and a channel-embedded shoe cabinet. The report claimed that the life support ship used the simulation technology to conduct a full-post experiment on the whole ship life support facility (including how much water pressure is needed to ensure that the entire ship uses water at the same time, and how many dryers are required to ensure all the occupants need, how to accurately manage people in a newly designed living environment, etc.).
No. 88 is also the first ship of the Chinese Navy to set up the "female soldier's exclusive living area". The physical and psychological characteristics of the female soldiers are carefully planned and designed. In addition to the public cabin, the laundry room, the drying room and the female soldier's recreation room are specially added. The toilets and bathrooms are specially arranged, and the relevant cabins pay special attention to protecting the privacy of female crew members. The report declared that "after the delivery of the new support ship, the military and the military have received rave reviews. The "Future Ark" life support ship is pinning their expectations and dreams: life support facilities and even weapons and equipment should be established at the source of design and construction. The concept of humanism, abandoning the "closed mindset of "comprehensive warfare, light security"."
Possibly the Comprehensive Support Ship is a "steel beach" with Chinese characteristics. The US Navy has an at-sea recreation and recuperation activity known as "steel beach" - steel for the ship's deck, and beach for the relaxation activities. Free of the belly of the ship and surrounded by miles of water, Marines and Sailors bring out their grills and beach equipment for a picnic. The troops and sailors enjoy a day in the sun, away from the stress and struggles that come with ship life. On the flight deck of the ship, Marines and Sailors eat a barbequed meal and enjoy a variety of recreational activities during a steel beach picnic. They throw footballs, eat good food and get away from the chow hall and get out in the sun. It is not every day that most crew-members get the chance to walk out on the flight deck and have a good time. The US Navy usually does this sort of thing about halfway through a six month patrols. These kind of activities are presented to the Sailors and Marines to help improve their morale and get them interacting with one another.
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