PLAN commission of the day: Haibing 722 Icebreaker

New icebreaker joins PLA Navy in Liaoning
Source: China Military OnlineEditor: Ouyang
2016-01-05 17:220


The CCTV screenshot shows the newly-commissioned Haibing 722, the first ship of the Type-272 icebreakers of the PLA Navy.

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (ChinaMil) -- Haibing 722, the first ship of the Type-272 icebreakers of the PLA Navy, has started its military service with a ceremony marking its commission held at a naval port in Huludao, northeast China's Liaoning province a few days ago.

The Haibing 722 will take on the tasks of ice condition investigation, ice breaking and maritime search and rescue in ice zone in the Bohai waters.

The icebreaker, designed and built independently by China, started to be built in November 2013 and was launched in March 2015. It is 103.10 meters long and 18.40 meters wide with a full-load displacement of 4,860 tons and a maximum speed of 18 knots. it is able to resist force 12 wind and navigate continuously up to 7,000 sea miles.

There is a helicopter platform on the Haibing 722 where one Z-8 helicopter can take off and land.

PLA Navy's first generation Haibing 722, the newly-built icebreaker's predecessor, was made in Qiuxin Ship Plant in Shanghai with the approval of the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) in 1969. The construction only spent 103 days and the icebreaker was launched on Dec. 26, 1969. After 44 years of active service in the PLA Navy, the icebreaker retired in June 2013.

During its decades-long service time, the first generation Haibing 722 performed various missions with flying colors including search and rescue, breaking ice and piloting ships, investigating ice conditions, conducting training exercises and so on.

Besides the Haibing 722, on the list of those Chinese naval ships which have inherited the name or hull number of their previous-generation ships are the Type-052B guided missile destroyer Guangzhou, the Type-052D guided missile destroyers Kunming, Jinan, Xi'an and Changsha as well as the Type-056 corvette Fushun.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Global warming?? I guess they won't be needing a replacement icebreaker anytime soon.

Monday, June 17, 2013

IceBreaker 722 decommissioned.

The PLAN decommissioned its Yanha class icebreaker 722 this month after 44 years of service.

This small PLAN icebreaker is no Soviet style mammoth capable cutting through the thick of frozen Arctic layers -- The PLAN used the Yanha class mainly to push away icy waters of the Bohai Sea.    With the previous transfer of 722's sister ship 723 to the China Coast Guard in Dec 20th, 2012, this leaves the PLAN with no ice-breaking asset under it's command.

No worries, there are plenty of  One-Liners to break-the-ice at a blind date, such as this one "There are three kinds of people: Those who can count and those who can't. "