The 18th Chinese naval escort fleet began a series of goodwill visits to European ports with a six-day stopover at Portsmouth. The rare formal visit to the home of the Royal Navy, where they were welcomed a day earlier than planned on 11 January to avoid storm-force winds, was the first by PLAN warships since September 2007. The three-ship group, comprising the Type 071 amphibious assault ship Changbaishan (pictured), the Type 054A frigate Yuncheng and the Type 905 replenishment tanker Chaohu, arrived fresh from a four-month escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and Somali coastal waters. Since sailing form the naval port of Zhanjiang in Guangdong province on 1 August 2014, they have escorted 135 Chinese and foreign ships over 48 patrols. A diesel-electric Type 039 Song class submarine, in company with the support vessel Changxingdao, was also reported to be on task.
展开▼
