In the previous article, the author talked with you about a series of stories about the construction and development of China's coast guard, such as the 818 type coast guard ship, the 10,000-ton coast guard ship and so on. Today, we talk about 2 icebreakers in our coast guard force. It has to be said that icebreakers have a very huge role on many occasions. The Navy's icebreakers No. 721 and No. 723 have been handed over to the coast guard one after another. For our coast guard force, how much role do the two icebreakers have?Today, we're going to talk about that.
As we all know, in 2012, a series of games were launched between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands. In the course of this game, China's maritime law enforcement forces are facing difficulties in all aspects. First of all, as of 2012, China has not yet standardized and professional marine law enforcement forces, and there are several departments such as fishery administration, maritime supervision, and maritime guard, which are not subordinate to each other. Second, there is a relatively large gap between China's maritime law enforcement forces and the ships of the Japan Coast Guard in terms of the number of ships, tonnage, and level of modernization.
At that time, the Japan Coast Guard even had a large coast guard ship of 6,000 to 7,000 tons, which was not possessed by any of our maritime law enforcement forces. In the face of an unprecedented critical situation, China dispatched four maritime surveillance ships headed by the 1,690-ton "Haijian 51" to form a formation and forcefully enter the waters near the Diaoyu Islands to cruise.
In order to unify several maritime law enforcement forces, it is necessary to form a strong maritime law enforcement force. In July 2013, China established the Coast Guard, which ended the previous situation of "five dragons governing the sea" in terms of structure. However, in the early stages of the establishment of the coast guard force, there was a situation in which the state of ships was not good, and the number of large and medium-sized ships was extremely short. In such an environment, out of practical needs, China's navy transferred various ships and began to hand them over to the coast guard for use, becoming coast guard ships under the jurisdiction of the coast guard forces.
At the same time, law enforcement vessels that were originally subordinate to maritime surveillance and fishery administration departments have begun to be handed over to the coast guard one after another. Repainted to become a coast guard ship. In this process, two icebreakers of the naval forces were handed over to the coast guard and played a great role.
In fact, the two icebreakers of China's coast guard are basically retired ships of the navy. In the northern part of our country, the weather is cold in winter. In some areas of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, it is very easy to freeze, causing shipping to stagnate. The normal training of sea boats has also been greatly affected. In such an environment, our country needs dedicated icebreakers.
First of all, it is necessary to carry out icebreaking operations in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and other areas to ensure the smooth navigation of the sea. Second, it is necessary to ensure the normal navigation and training of various ships and submarines of the Navy. In order to solve the above problems, in the late 60s, our country began to design the first generation of icebreakers, that is, Type 071 icebreakers. In the early 70s, it was delivered to the naval forces, with the port number Sea Ice 722. Subsequently, on the basis of the Type 071 icebreaker, a further improved model was introduced, which was also in service in the early 70s, with the port number Sea Ice 721.
Both icebreakers belonged to the 3000-ton class icebreakers, and in the 70s the situation was decent in all respects. In the 80s, with the sustained and rapid development of China's economy, the demand for shipping further increased. In such an environment, the 3,000-ton icebreaker has problems such as small tonnage and insufficient endurance. Finally, in the 80s, our country developed a 5000-ton Type 210 icebreaker with the port number Sea Ice 723.
Compared to ordinary vessels, the structure of the icebreaker is very special, the hull is wide and short, and the bow and stern and the area below the waterline are reinforced with high-strength thick steel plates and frames, and the overall strength is high. The end is upturned, the tip is tilted forward, and the two sides are equipped with ballast water tanks. It has excellent seaworthiness, and when breaking the ice, it relies on the special shape of the hull to "climb" the ice, and uses the huge self-gravity of the hull to break the ice and open up a channel. It is highly resistant to collisions, and since it belongs to icebreakers, it is able to cut through the hull of even ordinary ships.
In fact, the three icebreakers of our Navy do not only perform icebreaking tasks. In the 90s, it successively undertook a series of tasks such as maritime reconnaissance and disaster relief. For example, the Haibing 723 ship has a long-term confrontation with an autonomous destroyer in the Sea of Japan in the East China Sea. In 2012, the Navy Haibing 723 ship was decommissioned and handed over to the maritime surveillance department to become the 111 maritime surveillance ship. In 2013, after the coast surveillance vessels were successively classified into the coast guard sequence, the Haibing 723 ship was assigned to the coast guard sequence and became the coast guard 1411 ship.
At the same time, in 2013, the Navy's Sea Ice 722 ship was decommissioned. Since it has been in service for a full 40 years and has reached the maximum life of the ship, after the decommissioning of the Haibing 722 ship, it was not handed over to other departments. In the same year, the Navy's Haibing 721 ship was handed over to China's coast guard force and became the coast guard tow 13 ship. Please note that the tugboats in the coast guard force can be called elite, not only icebreakers, but also the navy's 1 Type 072 landing ship after being handed over to the coast guard, it became the coast guard tow 25 ships.
In 2014, in the process of defending the 981 drilling platform in the South China Sea, the coast guard towed 13 ships played a great role. After all, the Coast Guard Tow-13 ship belongs to the ships of the 70s, and due to limited technology and old hulls, they have been decommissioned. At this stage, the Haijing 1411 is still in use in the Coast Guard and is the only icebreaker among the Coast Guard vessels. As soon as the actual mission requires, it can be dispatched immediately, relying on the sturdy hull and special cutting ability to deal with a series of surrounding opponents.
Please note that at present, our coast guard is only equipped with one icebreaker, not that our country cannot build it, but that the coast guard force does not have an urgent need in this regard. In recent years, China has successively built the 14,000-ton Xuelong No. 2 icebreaker, the 5,600-ton polar icebreaker and so on. From the perspective of China's shipbuilding capacity, if the navy or coast guard needs it, China can quickly design and build icebreakers and deliver them quickly.
For China's coast guard, since 2013, it has been reborn. As of 2022, China's coast guard force has a total of 2 12,000-ton coast guard ships and more than 70 coast guard ships of more than 3,000 tons. If other types of coast guard ships are added, China has a total of more than 1,000 coast guard ships of more than 1,000 tons, reaching more than 150, which can be called the first in the world. Among them, 6 Type 818 coast guard ships and 9 Type 718B coast guard ships have been delivered successively.
Compared with China, Japan has a total of 69 coast guard ships of more than 1,000 tons (12 coast guard ships of more than 3,000 tons), and South Korea has 35 coast guard ships of more than 1,000 tons. As for the Philippines, even counting the 100-ton coast guard ships, all the large and small coast guard ships combined, there are only more than 30 in total.
There are many more stories about the construction and development of China's coast guard force. The author will talk to you slowly in future articles.