"Fortune Plan" LPD Amphibious Transport Dock

Taiwan-made Yushan landing platform dock (LDP) was scheduled to be delivered to the nation's Navy as early as September if its soon-to-be-launched sea trial proved to be a success. The 10,600-ton amphibious multi-mission vessel was docked at a military port undergoing required tests to make sure all the newly-installed systems work smoothly. After completing the ongoing static tests, the vessel would then be conducting a sea trial to make sure the domestically built LDP can operate safely, the source added. If the sea trial was successful, the vessel would be delivered to the Navy in September at the earliest. Once in service, the Yushan would replace the existing Hsu Hai dock landing ship, which first entered into service with the U.S. Navy as the USS Pensacola in 1971, before being transferred to Taiwan in 1999.

The Navy’s "New Amphibious Dock Transport Ship" prototype held a naming and launching ceremony at the Taiwan Shipping Company’s shipyard 13 April 2021. President Tsai Ing-wen, Secretary-General of the National Security Council Gu Lixiong, Minister of Defense Qiu Guozheng, Chief of Staff Huang Shuguang, Chief of Staff General Liu Zhibin, Li Zhongwei, Chairman of the Sea Commission, Zheng Wenlong, Chairman of Taiwan Shipping, Zhang Zhongcheng, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others attended the naming and bottle throwing ceremony. In her speech, President Tsai stated that in addition to being the first 10,000-ton-class amphibious transport ship of the Navy, the Yushan ship was also another milestone in the construction of the national ship. It was believed that it can strengthen the navy's ability to perform tasks and make the national defense more solid.

Taiwan’s self-made prototype ship of a new type of amphibious dock transport ship with a displacement of 10,000 tons had completed the outfitting of various weapons and equipment systems. The ship number was 1401, and it was named after Taiwan’s highest peak "Jade Mountain." The chief general of the navy believes that the use of localized Taiwanese image naming would help the public to identify with Taiwan and the national army, and that future ship naming would incorporate more Taiwanese elements. He said that he believes that the naming of the "Yushan Ship" was only the beginning, and that more Taiwanese elements would be incorporated into the various naval vessels in the future. The general believed that the naming of ships with Taiwanese elements helps the people to recognize Taiwan and the national army, and can also add points to the national defense of the whole people. Secondly, it can give the people a sense of participation.

The navy used the code name of the Fortune Plan to build a prototype ship for a new type of amphibious dock transport ship. The total budget of the original plan was more than 6.29 billion yuan. Due to the cost of shipbuilding, the standard was repeatedly dropped, and the budget was increased by one billion yuan. The navy would determine the construction schedule for the subsequent three amphibious dock transport ships based on the national defense budget and the prototype ship test results. The Navy Command stated that this new type of amphibious dock transport ship can solve the problems of personnel operations, mission execution risks, and maintenance costs that have risen year by year due to the old overrun of the existing tank landing ships and dock landing ships.

The Navy invested in the construction of a new type of amphibious dock transport ship with a budget of more than 7.33 billion yuan. After the ship was delivered, it would become the flagship of the navy's amphibious landing operations and would be the main force for transportation in the South China Sea and outer islands. The amphibious dock transport ship was assembled by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ full-ship weapons and missile systems. It was equipped with 76mm gun mounts, a phalanx fast-cannon close-in weapon system on the fore and aft sides, and two sets of cruise-missile launchers on both sides of the amidships. Other systems include inclined launchers for Haijian II air defense missiles, and additional combat and communication systems such as fire control radars.

In the past, the Navy’s express personnel carrier was named after the single word "mountain". Such as: Tianshan, Yushan, Shoushan, etc., famous or commemorative ship names would be reused. The amphibious dock transport ship Yushan Warship was the second Yushan warship of the Navy. The former Yushan Warship was the Shanzi frigate. It served in the US Navy during World War II. It was handed over by the US Navy to the Republic of China Navy in 1965 and continued the mission of patrolling the Taiwan Strait until it was decommissioned and demolished in 1999.

After the construction of the new amphibious dock transport ship started on May 6, 2019, the Yushan ship held a mast erection ceremony on the 18 March 2021. The Naval Command pointed out that the Navy’s “new amphibious dock transport ship” was a new type of amphibious warfare designed and constructed based on combat requirements. Ships can perform tasks such as amphibious operations, personnel transportation, material transportation, disaster prevention and rescue, and humanitarian rescue.

Taiwan had the world's 8th largest marine corps, but rankED 13th out of the 13 countries with Landing Ship Dock / Landing Platform Dock amphbious ships. Wendell Minnick reported 20 September 2014 that "The Navy would introduce the plan to the public in November for local build programs for ... amphibious transport docks to replace 11 dock landing ships and tank landing ships..." The number of new ships, their displacement or building schedule was initially un-reported. The program's codename was Hong Yun, the name of the person who carried out the landing operation during the second Taiwan Strait Crisis in August 1958.

The "Hongyun Plan", which was originally expected to start in 2017, was the 10,000-ton amphibious dock landing ship. It was still the current standard. There are no manufacturers in Taiwan who have the willingness to accept the case. The flow of the target was in the embarrassing stage. The " Hongyun Plan " was also a series of state-owned projects of the Cai government. The technology has the lowest concentration and Taiwan's most capable support ship. At present, because the defense budget was too low, no manufacturer has the ability to build such a huge landing at a low price.

The 16,000-ton LPD would replace aging dock landing ships and would transport AAV7s and landing craft utility. The design indicates there was a sizable helicopter deck, but no hangar. There was also substantial command space and extensive C3I (command, control, communication and intelligence) capabilities for the amphibious task force command staff. Weapons would include the TC-2N (Tien Chien) air defense missile system, the Phalanx close-in weapon system, and a 76mm bow gun. The contract design was to be completed in 2016, with requests for proposals for construction to be issued in 2017.

The "Fortune plan" amphibious dock transport ship of the implementation of the Republic of China Navy shipbuilding program (country shipbuilding), plans to replace the Xionghai class dock landing ship. The new amphibious dock ship in the wartime implementation of the amphibious combat and military transport tasks, usually the implementation of multiple tasks, including the sea field hospital, for the medical team volunteers in the disaster area or sent to medical care, if the occurrence of major natural disasters at home and abroad, But also the implementation of transnational humanitarian relief tasks.

The new amphibious dock ship has a light displacement of 10,000 tons, a ship length of 153 meters and a life of 7,000 miles. The ship's weapons are equipped with a ship-launched Tianjian II missile system, as well as 76 guns, square guns and small caliber artillery. Also on the ship can carry all kinds of vehicles, including: LCU, LCM and other amphibious landing craft, AAV7 amphibious assault vehicles, heavy vehicles and Hummer, the other can be parked helicopters.

The new amphibious dock transport ship was expected to be delivered in 2021 after the ship test, can greatly enhance the national amphibious landing speed and energy and foreign humanitarian assistance. According to the Naval announced the new amphibious dock transport ship Fortune plan, the whole case would be 5 years time, cost 6.297 billion yuan to build a prototype ship, of which 3.6 billion 2.40 million yuan by the private shipyard to build body Taiwan, weapons The system was responsible for the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In May 2016 a model was displayed of a prospective Taiwanese landing helicopter docking ship under the Hong Yun program. Although the design characteristics of the prospective ship were not given, the model presented demonstrated a ship that was close in architecture to American LPDs such as San Antonio, although somewhat smaller.

The peculiarity of the Taiwanese ship was an exceptionally powerful armament, which, judging from the model, besides the standard self-defense complexes, also includes two four-container anti-ship missile launchers (apparently supersonic Hsiung Feng III) and 32 vertical launching units for medium-range anti-aircraft missiles TC-2N Tien Chien II, and in addition, a 76-mm universal artillery installation Oto Melara Super Rapid. DVKD would also be equipped with a multifunctional radar complex in integrated masts. Such a complex of weapons, apparently, was intended for the possibility of using these LPDs as the flagships of the surface ships of the fleet of Taiwan.

The new type of amphibious dock transport ship construction was drafted by the Ministry of Defense Procurement Office in April 2017, followed by a bid opening on May 10; but due to the domestic qualified shipyard, including the Taiwanese ship, Qing Fu and CITIC and other shipyards are considered 3.6 billion shipbuilding budget does not match the cost, so no manufacturers were bidding.

Observers reported that the "national shipbuilding" amphibious dock transport ship construction plan of the Taiwan Navy had been problematic after the implementation of the project, even if the technology was relatively simple. Previously, media reported that, because the Taiwan military offer was too low, after three rounds of bidding only Taiwan CITIC shipyard bid for the ship's construction plan. And in the outside world that CITIC shipyard may have to lose money when making shouting, the Taiwan military sources revealed on 27 July 2017, the amphibious dock ship transport plan would again be revised.

According to Taiwan media reports, the Taiwan military amphibious dock transport ship project code-named "Fortune" on 19 July 2017 had the third round, because at that time only CITIC shipyard company offered to the tender. The outside world view was that the plant would be successful in the construction of the ship. But the contents of the CITIC tender documents on 26 July 2017, confirmed that it was not in compliance with the tender and the "Fortune" plan.

According to previous reports, the "Fortune" program final offer for the first ship had a total price of 6.297 billion Taiwan dollars (about 207 million US dollars), of which the shipyard was responsible for the construction of hull, the price of 36.204 billion Taiwan dollars (about 120 million US dollars), with the remaining costs for ship-related equipment, weapons, combat systems, covered by the "Zhongshan Academy of Sciences" contract.

The "Zhongshan Academy of Sciences" would be respondible for the installation Taiwan's own two sets of "Sea Sword 2" air defense missiles, as well as the purchase of the bow of the US 76-mm rapid fire gun and close array near the anti-gun. The ship would also installed fire control radar, combat systems and communications systems such as the world's similar landing ships have.

As the price was too low, the Taiwan military in May 2017 noted that Taiwan's major shipyards were interested in the case, but there was no vendor tender in April, mainly due to budget considerations. Shipyard has expressed views in the investment briefing that the military out of the shipbuilding budget was too low, manufacturers would not be able to carry the costs.

The new dock landing ship was to have "independent combat capability", so in the hangar, flight deck, the middle of the upper building and other locations require the use of HSLA-80 steel, this steel was the United States "Burke" class missile destroyer hull structure selected steel.

The "Taiwan ship" group in Kaohsiung Shipyard built the "Rock" supply ship cost of 4.7 billion Taiwan dollars, of which hull cost allegedly NT $ 4 billion. And this supply ship did not use high-performance steel. The cost of the supply ship built in accordance with the national standard was also higher than the new landing ship that was required to be built in accordance with the military standard, which can explain why Taiwan's major shipbuilding groups are not interested.

Allegedly, the ship cost plan was 3.6 billion Taiwan dollars ($ 120 million). Observer network military commentators believe that the rumors of the mainland 20,000-ton 071-type dock landing ship cost of 300 million US dollars, according to tonnage \ price ratio, then Taiwan's new ship's offer was much lower.

Since then on July 10 the second round of the opening bid, the price slightly improved, CITIC shipbuilding was the only bidder, but according to the provisions of the need for at least three enterprises tender for the tender can be effective. So again the tender failed - for the "Fortune" plan, all three tenders failed.

The Taiwan Ministry of Defense with the Executive Yuan would coordinate the finalization to be extended to the end of 2017.

The fourth public tender announced on January 19, 2018, because only one boat bid, does not meet the requirements of the "Government Procurement Law" requiring more than three qualified manufacturers to bid (because the tender has changed compared to the previous one) Content, regarded as the first time to open the bid). The Ministry of National Defense immediately opened the tender for the fifth time on March 1 and opened the bid on March 8. According to the government procurement law, the previous bidding and the second public bidding are not subject to the requirement of bidding by more than three qualified manufacturers. CITIC Shipbuilding would not participate in the bidding after the second tender of the "New Type of Amphibious Dock Transport Ship Construction Case". It was an assessment that the warships are technically more difficult and risky.

In the meeting of the Legislative and Legislative Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Yuan on December 26, 2018, after the ruling and opposition negotiations, the final resolution was made on the budget of the amphibious shipyard. The case was frozen by 200 million yuan. In the inquiry, Defense Minister Yan Defa admitted that the Navy’s plan to build an amphibious transport ship was not subject to the approval of the Legislative Yuan, and it was a major operational error. The Ministry of Defense’s inspector’s office was required to conduct a full investigation. The reason for the additional budget was the first three times. The Navy raised the standard of 1 billion yuan and won the bid by the Taiwanese ship in the 4th bidding. The Department of Defense's Strategic Planning Department agreed that the Navy had increased its budget, and did not know that the Navy had already decided on the bid. Therefore, "the service should be reviewed." Li Zongxiao, chief of the Navy's chief of staff, said that the Navy admits that the procedures are not well-conceived and fully admits the mistakes; the reason why the budget would increase was that there was no shipyard to bid after the cost of materials has become higher.

By November 12, 2018, the ship had undergone eight months of equipment selection and inspection of the construction blueprint, and began computer simulation testing and correction between system equipment from the end of November. The blueprint for the construction of the ship and marine industry R&D center was designed to carry out the integration test of the shipboard system, equipment and lines, including the operation of various systems such as propulsion, power supply and auxiliary system, and to detect the integrated stage management system and various control interfaces. If the test results are in compliance with the regulations; if the test results are correct, after the completion of all the procedures, the project was officially started in May 2019, and would be launched at the end of 2020 and delivered to the ship in 2021. After the prototype ship was delivered, the Navy first conducted the test and evaluation, as the basis for the subsequent improvement of three ships, and then decided the construction period of the three ships following the budget and other factors.

The number and difficulty of construction of the new amphibious shipyard are far greater than those of the previous fast combat support ship, for example, except for general propulsion, power supply, auxiliary machinery, ballast tank balance and other systems. There was also a flooding pontoon in the lower dock, and the AAV7 amphibious assault vehicle and the landing craft are divided into two layers. Mechanical equipment such as hydraulic moving springboard was required to connect between the two decks. In addition, there are more flying decks, mechanical equipment (such as cranes, etc.).

During the equipment selection period, various equipment manufacturers at home and abroad continuously promoted various equipments through various pipelines and engineers in the ship. Many people have put many poor equipment into the selection range through human relations, which makes the design and construction difficult. The workload of the unit has increased greatly, and the period of equipment selection was lengthened. Following an autonomous defense policy, Taiwan named amphibious transport dock ship equipment suppliers, in principle, as long as there are domestic manufacturers, it shall be manufactured by the domestic manufacturers. For example, ship hydraulic systems completely full by the Association to the company contracted. The supply chain of steel and Formosa Plastics was also a cooperative manufacturer of Taiwanese ships. The company's hydraulic control technology has always been deeply recognized. In the same year, the Zhongtai Ship completed the deep overhaul of the Navy's class submarine Sea Lion, in which the company was responsible for the submarine hydraulic system for finishing and updating, including hydraulic system internal hydraulic oil cleaning, submarine control surface hydraulic control system, and submersible depth servo valve.

On May 6, 2019, the first "Hongyun Project" dock transport ship was started at the Taiwan Ship Kaohsiung Plant. It was reported that Taiwan intends to build four ships of this class.

On June 9, 2020, at the shipyard of the Taiwanese shipbuilding corporation CSBC in Kaohsiung, in the presence of the Commander of the Navy of the Republic of China, Admiral Liu Bin, the ceremony of the first steel cutting and the construction of the landing helicopter dock ship under the Hong Yun program took place. The ceremony was held as construction of the first two sections of the ship was completed, meeting the conditions for laying the keel, according to the CSBC statement.

It was reported that the docking ship would be handed over to Taiwan's naval forces by 2022. Displacement DVKD would be 10,600 tons, length 153 meters, width 23 m, draft 6 m, maximum speed 21.5 knots, cruising range 12,500 nautical miles at an economical cruising speed of 13 knots. The crew of 190 people, landing of 250 marines, on board there can be four landing boats 16 m long or two 36 m long. There was a deck for receiving one S-70C anti-submarine helicopter. Also reported. that the ship would be armed with an anti-ship missile launcher / missile launcher of the Hsiung Feng II and III family. The project cost was 4.635 billion new Taiwan dollars.

CSBC’s LPD features a modern design, with two enclosed masts which appear similar in concept to the Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensors (AEM/S) found aboard the much larger San Antonio-class (LPD 17) of the U.S. Navy. The scale model shows a 76mm main gun at the bow, two PHALANX CIWS (one forward, one aft on top the hangar) and probably the most unique feature for this future class of ship (and likely a first for an amphibious transport dock): 2×4 missile launchers amidship, likely for Hsiung Feng II and III anti-ship missiles.