Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.
The ability to perform underway replenishment, or replenishment at sea, provides navies with
the ability to deploy world-wide, and to maintain forward presence for months on end on a continuous
basis.
Warships typically carry enough fuel to sail 6,000 nautical miles.
This is roughly the distance from East Asia to the Middle East, and they cannot stay at
their destination for very long without refuelling and resupply.
Navies which lack replenishment-at-sea capabilities are basically regional defence forces – green
water, but not truly blue water.
China since 2003 began to develop large comprehensive supply ships, and later on fast combat support
ships.
The country has continued to build the Type 903A comprehensive supply ship since 2012,
with a 23,400 tons displacement.
The Type 903A is large with a high capacity for storing fuel, fresh water, cargo and ammunition.
The weakness, however, is that it is too slow.
At just 20 knots, it has trouble keeping up with the average speed of a carrier strike
force.
This is where a new class of fast combat support ships come in.
They’re the Type 901 supply ships, also known by NATO as the Fuyu class.
With a huge displacement of 45,000 tons, they’re only slightly smaller than the aircraft carriers
they are to accompany.
With a speed of 25 knots and powered by gas turbines, they can keep up with the typical
speed of the PLAN carrier strike force.
The Type 901 provides a similar function for the Chinese Navy as the Supply class fast
combat support ship of the US Navy, in terms of allowing a comprehensive underway replenishment
capability.
The Chinese Navy put a lot of emphasis on logistics.
China’s ambitious program to build more capable fleet replenishment vessels is too
often overlooked.
Between 2004 and 2019, 9 ships of the Type 903 and 903A classes have entered service.
They were followed by two ships of the Type 901 fast combat support ship.
The Type 901 class was built at the Guangzhou Shipyard International, located on the Longxue
(龍穴) Island in the province of Guangdong, in southern China.
Photographic evidence of the ship's construction emerged in late 2015, not long before it was
launched on 15 December 2015, and left the factory for sea trials on 19 December 2016.
Details were initially limited, but the ship’s dimensions were already fairly clear.
The ship underwent replenishment-at-sea trials with a Type 071 landing platform dock in the
South China Sea in the first half of 2017.
The first unit of the Type 901 class, the Hulunhu (呼倫湖) was seen at a port in
Zhanjiang (湛江), Guangdong province in July 2017 bearing the pennant number 965,
indicating it has been commissioned into the PLA Navy.
The second ship, the Chaganhu (查干湖), was launched in 2017 and commissioned at the
end of 2018.
A further three vessels of the class are planned for construction over the next 5 years.
The Type 901 fast combat support ship is equipped with three gantries and a fourth high-point
structure port side aft.
They’re configured with five hoses for liquid refuelling on the port side and four on the
starboard side.
The central gantry provides a transfer station for solids on either side.
The ability to have multiple hoses connected, say to an aircraft carrier, will enable the
Type 901 to provide aviation fuel and marine fuel oil to the carrier itself simultaneously.
Using many hoses at the same time also minimises the duration of each refuelling operation:
a potentially dangerous undertaking that limits the carrier's manoeuvrability and prevents
it from operating aircraft.
Replenishment of solids can be expected to include food and equipment spare parts, as
well as air-launched munitions.
Delivery of solids is done by deploying pallets, which are transferred to the receiving ship
via cables.
This will allow the Type 901 to replenish multiple warships simultaneously while under
sail, a key capability for modern navies.
The Type 901 is able to refuel a carrier from its port side and, assuming the ship has attained
full operational capability, will also be able to simultaneously refuel one of the destroyers
or frigate escorts on its starboard side.
The helicopter deck at the stern supports the operation of heavy-lift helicopters, such
as the Z-8 and the Z-18, for the purpose of vertical replenishment.
The stern also features two hangars to accommodate these helicopters internally.
The replenishment ship features an advanced logistics support system, compared to the
old-generation oil tankers in service.
It allows for real-time monitoring and control of the fuel consumption and fuel load of all
types of vessels under its task group, through communication datalinks.
The system automatically develops optimised refuelling plans according to the specific
missions and operational characteristics at sea.
The Type 901 is equipped with a number of medical stations to house patients, even though
the Chinese Navy operates a sizable fleet of hospital ships.
The Type 901 is around 45,000 tons displacement, almost double the tonnage of the Type 903
supply ships that were used for escort and anti-piracy missions off Somalia.
The Type 901 has a length of 240 metres and a beam of 31 metres, very similar to the dimension
of the Supply class of the US Navy.
Complement is 200 personnel.
It is powered by four QC280 gas turbines, providing a total power output of 112 megawatts,
permitting a top speed of 25 knots.
This is much faster than the 20 knots of the Type 903 supply ship, partly because the Type
903 relies on diesel engines rather than gas turbines.
Total carrying capacity is unknown, but the US Navy Supply class, which has a very similar
displacement, can carry around 17,000 tons of fuel and 2,000 tons of ammunition.
The Type 901 may very well have a similar-sized storage.
While not a combat ship, the Type 901 is armed with some limited weaponry for self-defence.
It has four 30-millimetre H/PJ-13 6-barrelled autocannons, which are improved versions of
the Russian AK-630 close-in weapon system.
These four gun turrets provide a point defence against incoming missiles.
However, as a lightly armed ship, the Type 901 will need to be in the middle of the taskforce,
where it can be protected by combat warships.
This is so so important, given how critical the ship is to keeping the taskforce operational
for long periods.
Fast combat support ships like the Type 901 are multi-purpose resupply ships.
The two-level ship can be used as a one-stop logistics and logistics centre for aircraft
carrier formations.
In the past, fleet replenishment ships generally came in three types.
Ammunition transports delivers armament, missiles and ammunition to warships operating at sea.
They came with mechanisms for flooding entire compartments with sea water in case of emergency.
Replenishment oilers are employed for transporting fuel products, replenishing the fuel stores
of combatant ships, as well as for underway replenishment of other supplies.
General stores ships transport other cargo, such as food, water, dry goods, and medical
supplies.
Multi-purpose resupply ships fulfil the missions of all three different types, carrying all
the necessary supplies for a taskforce, and providing a one-stop replenishment for combatant
warships.
The Type 901 offers a great increase in capacity over the 23,400-ton Type 903 and 903A, of
which nine ships have been built.
It is better able to refuel and rearm Chinese warships in combat deployment far from the
Chinese mainland.
Also, the larger size gives the Type 901 a greater range than its predecessor, thus reducing
the need for foreign port facilities to refuel and replenish, for both the Type 901 and the
warships it supports.
While China's interest in building aircraft carriers, large destroyers and nuclear submarines,
and leasing foreign bases, like Djibouti, are getting a lot of attention, Beijing is
also clearly at work solving the logistics challenges to make the PLAN a true blue water
navy.
In this essential logistics element of naval power, China has risen to second place in
terms of sheer tonnage, and past the UK Royal Navy roundabout 2020.
In comparison, during the Cold War for example, the Soviet Union never really got the hang
of underway replenishment.
With the introduction of a new generation of large comprehensive supply ships and fast
combat support ships, China's capability for maritime power projection will see an unprecedented
increase.