| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  People's Liberation Army Navy |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Duchuan class |
| Type | Dispatch boat |
| Electronic warfare & decoys | None |
| Armament | None |
| Aircraft carried | None |
| Aviation facilities | None |
Duchuan class dispatch boat (YFL) is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN),[1][2][3][4][5] With the exact type still remains unknown, it has received the NATO reporting name Duchuan class, or 渡船 in Chinese, meaning Ferry Boat. A total of three units of this class have been confirmed in active service as of 2022.[1][2][3][4][5]
Ships of this class in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by a two-digit number. The second Chinese character is Jiao (交), short for Jiao-Tong-Ting (交通艇), meaning dispatch boat (ferry) in Chinese, because these ships are classified as dispatch boats. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers are subject to change due to changes of Chinese naval ships naming convention, or when units are transferred to different fleets. Specification:[2][3][4][5]
| Type | NATO designation | Pennant No. | Name (English) |
Name (Han 中文) |
Commissioned | Displacement | Fleet | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchuan class dispatch boat (YFL) | Duchuan class | Bei-Jiao 72 | North Traffic 72 | 北交72 | ? | ?t | North Sea Fleet | Active |
| Nan-Jiao 83 | South Traffic 83 | 南交83 | ? | ?t | South Sea Fleet | Active | ||
| Nan-Jiao 89 | South Traffic 89 | 南交89 | ? | ?t | South Sea Fleet | Active |
