Ships of The People's Liberation Army Navy - Frigates

Frigates

Frigates are the most numerous principal surface combatants in the People's Liberation Army Navy. In spite of the more recent trend to construction of larger warships, like destroyers, this status is unlikely to change in the near future. Frigates were the first large surface combatants made available to the PLAN. The Soviet Union sold several frigates to the PLAN in the 1950s, including the Riga class frigates. These frigates became the foundation of Chinese built designs, such as the Jinan class. These ships were mostly armed with naval guns, though later designs managed to replace torpedo tubes with a twin launcher for SS-N-2 Styx anti-ship missiles.

• Type 054A frigate (Jiangkai-I-class) - 16 in active service, 4 more under construction.
• Type 054 frigate (Jiangkai-I-class) - 2 in active service.
• Type 053H3 frigate (Jiangwei-II-class) - 10 in active service.
• Type 053H2G frigate (Jiangwei-I-class) - 4 in active service.
• Type 053 frigate (Jianghu-class) - 17 in active service.