The Chinese trimaran craft is seen in what is the first widely released image of the vessel, but it leaves many questions unanswered. Last but not least, what is the real purpose of this vessel? At the same time, the details indicate that this craft is fully or almost fully submersible, making it a hybrid design.
The photo, which recently began circulating on social media and is reposted at the top of this story, shows a profile view of the vessel in the water. Although the date of the photo is unknown, the location is likely the Huangpu shipyard in Guangzhou province, where the ship has reportedly been spotted in satellite images in recent months. Our previous understanding of the ship’s appearance apparently comes solely from naval analyst HI Sutton, who looked at those images, in which the ship was still covered with tarpaulins.
As was evident in satellite images, the black-painted ship incorporates features of both surface ships and submarines. The vessel’s slim shape had also been previously noted, pointing to high efficiency. However, seen from this angle, the roughly 210-foot-long ship doesn’t necessarily appear to have been tuned for high performance, at least not as a top priority.
At the same time, in this view, the underwater attributes of the ship are perhaps even more pronounced.
These features may also include a rear thruster, which would indicate the fitting of a pump jet, a possible feature noted by Alex Luck, a journalist who closely follows the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Pump jets offer a number of advantages over traditional propellers, above all the ability to reach higher speeds without noisy cavitation – this means they can transit long distances much more stealthily.
More obvious in this view is the submarine-like sail, which is equipped with a snorkel tube or possibly an antenna mast.
What is far from obvious, even now, is whether this ship is manned or unmanned.
If it falls into the unmanned category, the trimaran craft could be some sort of hybrid between an unmanned surface vessel (USV) and an unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), essentially a semi-submersible, as HI Sutton has also postulated.
In this new image, however, there are hints that the ship may be capable of operation complete or at least very nearly completely submerged. The general design, as well as features such as depth marks on the sail and elsewhere on the hull, indicate that it is a hybrid submersible/surface ship, which would offer the benefits of stealth when submerged and relatively efficient movement while surfaced.
Depth marks on the trimaran sail. through X
And more depth marks on the bow. through X
As for its purpose, one of the most persistent theories is that it is an arsenal ship.
For several years, there have been rumors that China is developing such a ship. The idea would be to have an unmanned, hard-to-detect ship that could appear to launch its missiles (land attack and/or anti-ship) before disappearing under the waves.
Unofficial renderings showing a potential configuration for a Chinese semi-submersible arsenal ship with a trimaran hull:
The future of naval warfare?
China’s proposed trimaran, unmanned semi-submersible arsenal ship.
These ships would be perfect for sneaking into an enemy port and unleashing a swarm of missiles and drones as an opening salvo of war. pic.twitter.com/TbY8xju8GM
Such a ship could also provide additional magazine depth for more conventional surface combatants, which would likely also provide targeting solutions. In general, unmanned or minimally manned arsenal ships are a concept that is currently gaining more traction around the world.
So far, however, there is no firm evidence of a VLS on the trimaran deck, which would be necessary for an arsenal ship as outlined.
Another possibility, as put forward by HI Sutton, is that the ship could be designed as a “mothership” for drones.
Rather than an arsenal ship packing cruise missiles, its interior space could be given over to aerial drones in an extension of the kind of concept Ukraine pioneered, on a much smaller physical scale, in its conflict with Russia. If it is a mothership for aerial drones, then vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) types would seem to make the most sense. There is no obvious “flight deck” for conventional take-off and landing drones, although another possibility could be some form of catapult or rail-type launch system. A long-range one-way attack drone of the Shahed type, in particular, would lend itself to launch from a rail using a booster rocket.
If I am not mistaken, then the UAVs were observed on the flight deck of Shandong for the first time.
The one with the inverted V tail seems to be the one in the third picture even though I don’t know its type and/or name…but the other one??
As an alternative to drones, the ship may be intended to carry soldiers. A semi-submersible or fully submersible craft would be particularly useful for moving special forces around coastal areas or among islands and reefs. The US Navy in particular also has its own very low profile special operations craft, the Sealion or Combatant Craft Heavy (CCH). Other craft that are more exotic exist for the special operations role.
A US Navy CCH. Industrial Vigor
Less dramatically, the trimaran vessel may simply be a testbed for future technologies, perhaps exploring possible roles for semi- or fully submersible craft with the People’s Liberation Army. The PLAN certainly has a history of building custom ships ostensibly for research and development, test and evaluation, and training roles.
At the moment, we simply don’t know what this black-painted trimaran is designed for, nor any more details about its systems and crew (or lack thereof). However, with more images slowly coming to light, the vessel may not be so mysterious for much longer.
