James R Holmes, Taiwan's New Stealth Corvettes: Just What the Doctor Ordered? Taiwan’s got a new tool in its sea-denial toolkit. The Diplomat, Dec 30, 2014.
thediplomat.com/2014/12/taiwans-new-stealth-corvettes-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/
Quote:
"the guerrilla-like outlook characteristic of sea-denial navies is foreign to sea-control navies like America’s and Taiwan’s [but not foreign to China].
"The Asian mainland envelops the island to the west. China’s military can flood the zone from seaports and land-based airfields, pelting the island and its navy along many axes. * * * But this bit of branding [Tuo Jiang as ‘carrier killer’] bespeaks an unhealthy obsession with a warship that constitutes only a minor part of the airborne threat to Taiwan. In all likelihood the early generation of Chinese flattops will boast very modest air wings, whereas shore airfields can send forth tactical aircraft in large numbers. The mainland — not Liaoning or her successors — is the aircraft carrier over which Taiwanese seafarers should fret.
Note:
(a) "Word has it the Taiwan Navy has taken delivery of Tuo Jiang 沱江 [a river in Sichaun/Szechuan], its first stealth corvette under the Hsun Hai 迅海, or Swift Sea, program."
(i) 沱江級巡邏艦
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/沱江級巡邏艦
(lead ship 沱江號 "2014年12月23日(完工交艦)" / 以紀念1958年台海戰役立下戰功的同名艦; 排水量 約502噸)
(ii) 九二海戰
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/九二海戰
(Sept 2, 1958; 中华人民共和国 "重创台湾方面沱江号炮舰,并使之报废 [hich, of course, no civilian in Taiwan were told; I did not learn about it until recently]")
(b) "Taipei only plans to field a dozen of the new corvettes, complementing its existing, far less capable flotilla of Kuang Hua VI fast patrol craft. The ROCN could take its cue from China’s PLA Navy, which clearly grasps that quantity has a quality all its own. As Beijing’s sea-denial fleet squares off against the US Navy, it’s putting to sea up to one hundred Type 022 Houbei catamarans, its counterparts to Taiwan’s new vessels [Tuo Jiang-class corvettes]."
(i) 光華六號飛彈快艇
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/光華六號飛彈快艇
(近岸作戰; 共建造30艘, 全案已於2011年12月2日完成; 排水量 186.5噸)
光華六號 is not a catamaran, whereas both Tuo Jiang and 922 are.
(ii) 022型导弹艇
zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/022型导弹艇
(北約代號 NATO designation: 紅稗級 Houbei class; 中國人民解放軍使用的新型飛彈快艇; 滿載排水量 220噸)
(A) Because Houbei is a name conferred by NATO, do not ask why.
(B) Its outline is similar to Taiwan's Tuo Jiang.
(c) The commentator is a professor of strategy at the US Naval War College (in the state of Rhode Island). |