Shichang Training Ship

	Information Shichang Specifications

Last updated: 30 September 2007

During the 1982 Falklands War, the Royal Navy was able to draft and convert a large number of merchant ships for military support roles within a short period of time. Highly impressed by such a capability, the PLA Navy began to study the military use of civilian vessels, in particular container ships, in the mid-1980s. As a result of this study, a container ship Huayuankou was converted into an aviation training ship, with its aft deck becoming a helicopter flight deck.

In the early 1990s, the PLA Navy began to build a dedicated training ship to replace Huayuankou. The new training ship, known as “National Defence Mobilisation Ship” by the PLA Navy, was commissioned on 28 December 1996. The ship carries a pennant number 82 and was named after the patriotic navy general of Qing Dynasty’s Beiyang Navy, Deng Shichang (1855~1894). The ship has been in service with the PLA Navy’s Dalian Ship College as a training ship since then.

Shichang resembles a scaled-down version of the Royal Navy’s Argus aviation training ship. The ship’s superstructure is located forward, with a long flight deck aft. The ship has a small secondary superstructure approximately 2/3 of the way down the flight deck, containing the ship’s exhaust funnel. The flight deck has two landing spots for small-size utility helicopter such as Harbin Z-9 to operate simultaneously.

With a full displacement of 9,105t displacement and a speed of 17 knots, Shichang provides a training platform for large ship handling and flight deck operations. The ship is capable of carrying 300 standard-size containers, or supporting 200 cadets and 40 teachers for a maximum period of 30 days in the sea. By adding different container-size functional modules to the ship, Shichang could be easily configured for a range of roles, including aviation training, casualty receiving, maritime replenishment, long-range sea training, and reservist mobilisation.

In peacetime, Shichang is mainly used for the training of both PLA Navy and merchant ship crews. In time of crisis, its operation could be copied by the large number of container ships in China’s cargo fleet. If necessary, the ship could be configured into a hospital ship, a light helicopter carrier, or a transport ship. Additionally, the ship could also be deployed for maritime replenishment, search & rescue, scientific research, or disaster relief missions.

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