{"id":52150,"date":"2026-07-02T21:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/52150\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:59:13","slug":"china-commissioned-this-12000-ton-destroyer-in-march-by-june-it-was-off-japans-coast-and-tokyo-was-scrambling-to-shadow-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/52150\/","title":{"rendered":"China Commissioned This 12,000-Ton Destroyer in March. By June It Was Off Japan’s Coast and Tokyo Was Scrambling to Shadow It."},"content":{"rendered":"

New Chinese Type 055 Destroyer Operational In The Pacific: China has sent one of its newest and most powerful warships, the Type 055 Renhai-class<\/a> guided-missile destroyer Dongguan, on its first deployment into the Pacific off the coast of Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Type 055 destroyer (NATO designation: Renhai-class cruiser) is a class of 12,000-ton stealth guided-missile destroyers. It is widely considered one of the most powerful surface combatants globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/p>\n

Chinese Navy Warship Created by Artist. Image Credit: Creative Commons.<\/p>\n

The Dongguan was just commissioned into the PLAN in March and on June 30th transited the Miyako Strait between Okinawa and Miyako Island. Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) scrambled a frigate and a P3 Orion aircraft to shadow the Chinese warship.<\/p>\n

The Type 055 Is A Formidable Warship<\/p>\n

The Dongguan is the second ship<\/a> in the second batch of destroyers in the Type 055 class, alongside its sister ship Anqing. The first eight were completed by late 2022 and include a number of upgrades to their combat systems, sensors, and electronic architecture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

China classifies it as a destroyer; however, many Western analysts, in taking into account its advanced capabilities, have classified it as a cruiser, which is why it is listed as both in analyses.<\/p>\n

One of the most significant reported improvements is the integration of a new combat management system<\/a> (CMS), a highly integrated, automated command-and-control (C2) network.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CMS serves as the ship\u2019s central nervous system, integrating data from its dual-band AESA radar (Type 346B<\/a>) to coordinate multilayered air defense, anti-ship, and anti-submarine operations.<\/p>\n

\"Tomahawk<\/p>\n

Tomahawk Missile Firing U.S. Navy Photo<\/p>\n

\"Arleigh<\/p>\n

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) fires a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) in support of Operation Epic Fury, Feb. 28, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo)<\/p>\n

Equipped with 112 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells with 64 launchers fitted forward in an 8\u00d78 configuration, and 48 launchers further aft in a 6\u00d78 configuration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The universal launchers carry a mix of HHQ-9B surface-to-air missiles<\/a> (SAMs), which have a range of more than 100 nautical miles (nm), and YJ-18<\/a> anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 290 nm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

USNI reported that the large VLS tubes can also accommodate anti-submarine missiles, land-attack cruise missiles, and anti-ship ballistic missiles.<\/p>\n

The Dongguan is armed with a single 130-mm gun and a 30-mm close-in weapon system (CIWS) that are mounted forward of the bridge, and a 24-cell HHQ-10 point-defense SAM launcher<\/a> is carried atop the helicopter hangar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two triple 324-mm torpedo launchers are carried for short-range anti-submarine warfare, and the aircraft hangar is large enough to accommodate two maritime helicopters such as the Harbin Z-9<\/a> or the newer Z-20F<\/a>, which looks remarkably similar to the US Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk.<\/p>\n

The Dongguan\u2019s Power Plant<\/p>\n

The Dongguan is conventionally powered by four 28 MW (38,000 hp) QC-280 gas turbines<\/a> in a combined-cycle gas-and-gas (COGAG) arrangement. Additional power may be provided by six 5-MW (6,700-hp) QD-50 gas turbines.<\/p>\n

The maximum flank speed is estimated to be 30 knots (56 km\/h; 35 mph), which is on par with the US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ship has a range of 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 12 knots (22 km\/h; 14 mph). Actual ranges will vary depending on how the ship operates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Type 346 Dragon Eye AESA Radar<\/p>\n

The Dongguan operates the Type 346 radar (NATO reporting name: Dragon Eye), an advanced naval Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar developed by the PLAN.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Operating in the S and C\/X bands, it is the cornerstone of China\u2019s \u201cAegis<\/a>\u201d surface combatants and can simultaneously conduct long-range air searches, surface tracking, and missile guidance.<\/p>\n

Unlike older mechanically scanned systems, the Dragon Eye utilizes four fixed, convex flat-panel arrays<\/a> that wrap around the ship\u2019s superstructure to provide a 360-degree field of view.<\/p>\n

The Dragon Eye is designed<\/a> to detect and track hundreds of targets concurrently, including low-observable aircraft, helicopters, surface vessels, and high-speed, sea-skimming anti-ship missiles.<\/p>\n

It is similar in capabilities to the U.S. Navy\u2019s SPY-1 radar system<\/a> used on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The deployment and location of Dongguan were a way for China<\/a> to flex its muscles against Japanese\/US defenses in the Pacific. It is impressive that China<\/a> commissioned a warship just a few months ago and then sent it on a sensitive deployment so quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a fleet that continues to grow rapidly in both size and capability, China\u2019s navy (PLAN<\/a>) will increase such deployments<\/a> as it transforms into a true blue-water navy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About the Author: Steve Balestrieri\u00a0<\/p>\n

Steve Balestrieri<\/a> is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Chinese Type 055 Destroyer Operational In The Pacific: China has sent one of its newest and most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[12,35021,360,8,2260,13238,52,35022,5210],"class_list":["post-52150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tokyo","tag-china","tag-chinese-navy","tag-defense","tag-japan","tag-navy","tag-plan","tag-tokyo","tag-type-055","tag-u-s-navy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}