Type 071 Yuzhao LPD - Operations

China's sixth naval escort flotilla departed 01 July 2010 for the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters. The flotilla with more than 1,000 personnel, including Navy special forces troops, is to relieve the fifth flotilla, which has been cruising the waters off the Somalia coast for more than three months. The amphibious landing ship Kunlunshan, destroyer Lanzhou, and supply ship Weishanhu of the fifth fleet, will escort vessels sailing through the region. It was the first deployment of the amphibious landing ship Kunlunshan, with a displacement of 18,500 tonnes, on an escort mission. The previous five Chinese fleets to the Gulf of Aden have escorted 2,248 Chinese and foreign ships in 213 batches in this region, which has been plagued by pirate attacks, since December 2008.

The Jinggangshan dock landing ship, which is the largest warship in the Chinese Navy, was officially launched in Shanghai, Monday's Jiangxi Daily reported 19 July 2011. The report did not give the exact date of the launch. With a displacement of 19,000 tons, the amphibious warship is 210 meters long and 28 meters wide and can carry helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft as well as nearly 1,000 soldiers, Jiangxi Daily said. According to an earlier report on china.com, Jinggangshan is the second of the Type 071 dock landing ship and was built by the Shanghai-based Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. The first one, Kunlunshan, was launched in 2006 with a displacement of 18,000 tons, it said. The ship was christened the Jinggangshan last December "to show the love for the revolutionary base area and inherit and carry forward its revolutionary spirit," according to Jiangxi Daily's report. Jinggangshan, or Jinggang Mountains, is located in East China's Jiangxi province and is known as the birthplace of China's People's Liberation Army and the cradle of China's revolution.

Right after the Spring Festival of 2012, the newly commissioned “Jinggangshan” amphibious dock landing ship of a landing ship flotilla under the South China Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted the first-ever joint training with helicopters and air cushion boats, unveiling the training of the new-type dock landing ship after the Spring Festival.

A taskforce under the South China Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) left a naval port in Sanya in south China’s Hainan province on March 19, 2013 for the waters of the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean to conduct combat readiness patrol and high-sea training. The taskforce was composed of the “Jinggangshan” amphibious dock landing ship, the “Lanzhou” guided missile destroyer, the “Yulin” and “Hengshui” guided missile frigates as well as helicopters and hovercrafts on the warships. The taskforce will conduct training on such subjects as command post establishment, maritime maneuvering operation, maritime right protection, high-sea escort, rapid response to support operation and political work in the waters of the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean.

The high-sea training fully drove the troop units under the South China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy to conduct a series of actual-combat confrontation drill according to the criterion of “being able to fight and win battles”, so as to effectively improve the fleet’s capability to complete diversified military tasks, according to Jiang Weilie, commander of the taskforce and commander of the South China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy.

The combat readiness patrol and high-sea training is an annual routine military training of the South China Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy. Both the “Lanzhou” warship and the “Yulin” warship, which have carried out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast, have strong air-defense, anti-missile and anti-submarine capabilities. The “Hengshui” warship is a new-type guided missile frigate recently commissioned to the PLA Navy.

A Type 071 landing ship from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy came into the limelight on 10 January 2018 with military experts saying such ships could enhance military advantages in dealing with potential island disputes. With a maximum displacement of 29,000 tons, the 210-meter-long, 28-meter-wide Longhushan is the largest domestically designed amphibious warfare ship in China, news site thepaper.cn reported.

Longhushan was named after a mountain in Yingtan, Jiangxi Province. The civil affairs bureau of the East China city released a notice on January 2 in an effort to collect a song for the new ship from the public. The song needs to represent thoughts of enhancing the PLA and display the image of Longhushan, according to the notice.

"China is developing Type 071 ships to meet requirements of possible wars involved with islands in the future, which could help it gain advantages in solving disputes on islands as well as questions involved with Taiwan," Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times. The Type 071 can work with Type 075 amphibious assault ships and help the navy win control of the air during landing operations, according to Song.

"The South China Sea, which has deep waters and complicated weather conditions, is suitable for the military to conduct actual combat training in an effort to deal with possible island disputes and national reunification in the future," Li said. Li said the military drill is also sending a signal to other countries that China has the resolution and capability to safeguard its sovereignty and interests in the South China Sea.

"Countries outside the region should not meddle with the issue," he said. Foreign countries should get used to reports on PLA Navy exercises and should not make groundless speculation as the Chinese military is strengthening its capability in keeping with China's development, Li also said.