Alex Luck
Chinese naval builder Dalian Shipbuilding has launched a new Type 055 “large destroyer”, the tenth overall, and commenced construction on a further hull. According to new commercial satellite imagery the builder has also laid down another Type 052D destroyer, the sixth of the latest batch at the yard. Beam figures for the new modules of 18 and 20 metres respectively suggest an effort of parallel construction in a single drydock.
Dalian is one of two principal naval yards together with Jiangnan in Shanghai constructing all recent guided missile destroyers for the PLAN. This most recent construction of new combatants for Dalian is taking place at a secondary yard typically referred to as Dagushan.
The Dagushan-based yard is located to the East across Dalian Bay from the builder’s primary facilities previously performing all DDG-construction. This development may indicate that Dalian Shipbuilding is trying to offload more naval output from their primary facilities in order to free up larger drydocks for commercial construction. Interestingly Dagushan first assembled this new Type 055 on a slipway, similar to Jiangnan. However the yard then used a barge to move the hull into a drydock for further work in late March.
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