Why is a small missile ship, with a displacement of only 220 tons, preserved today instead of being destroyed or sold?
In a world where China has built 80,000-ton aircraft carriers, the 220-ton vessels are tiny in the face of these behemoths.
Today, let's talk about this Type 022 missile ship with only 100 tons, why China chose to keep it, rather than abandon it!
In the late 1980s, relations between China and the United States took a turn for the worse, various cooperation projects were interrupted, and the Soviet Union suddenly collapsed in the north, making the United States a symbol of near-invincibility.
Russia has also begun to draw closer to the West, and NATO has lost its original competitors, so in pursuit of further interests, the United States has turned its eyes to the Asia-Pacific region.
At that time, China and the Philippines had a long-standing competition over the South China Sea issue, and the United States deliberately intervened in the South China Sea affairs in order to stir up trouble.
Such behavior has directly increased China's tensions on the sea, and in the face of the complex international situation, China must formulate corresponding strategies.
At the time, however, China's naval power was limited, and the tonnage of all its warships was less than the combined tonnage of a single US aircraft carrier fleet.
In addition, the level of China's missiles at that time was also very low, and even if it fought at full strength, it was difficult to compete with the US aircraft carrier fleet.
In the face of the approaching US posture, China has no choice but to build the Type 022 missile ship.
The missile ship is characterized by its extreme speed, capable of reaching a maximum speed of 50 knots at sea.
In contrast, the full speed of the US aircraft carrier formation is only about 30 knots, from the speed point of view, the type 022 missile boat has a certain advantage.
However, even if the 022 missile boat speed is faster, in the face of the United States 100,000 tons of aircraft carriers and thousands of tons of destroyers, how to confront it?
China at that time thought of a strategy, that is, let the Type 022 missile boat risk attack the US carrier formation, launch a suicide attack, so it is called the suicide ship.
China's strategic vision is this: When the radar detects the target of a U.S. warship, the pilot pilots the Type 022 missile ship at full speed, using the speed advantage to break through the defense line and drive close to the surface, reducing the possibility of interception and detection.
However, this is only a helpless move, in addition to the flexibility of the Type 022 missile ship, China can also use the tactical surprise attack on the US aircraft carrier.
But considering the strong combat capability of the US carrier formation, the Type 022 missile ship's surprise attack is not safe.
In any case, the Type 022 missile boat, as the core maritime warfare strategy, was the greatest threat China posed to the United States at the time.
This was also China's helpless choice at that particular time, showing China's determination to defend its territory and territorial sea, and if the United States crossed the red line on the South China Sea issue, China would defend its national security at all costs.
However, the limitations of such small ships are also obvious, such as short endurance, can only operate within China's territorial waters, and can not support China's far-sea combat needs.
When China's economy took off, the Chinese navy also entered a period of rapid development.
The first Liaoning was commissioned in 2012, followed by the first truly home-built aircraft carrier Shandong.
At the same time, China's frigate and destroyer technology level has also made a leap, the rapid progress is simply unimaginable.
The Chinese Navy is now capable of confronting American carrier groups head-on.
If the Chinese Navy is so powerful, then why keep the Type 022 missile ship?
In fact, the mothballed Type 022 missile boat is still of great value to China.
It has been suggested that China could transform the Type 022 missile boat into a suicide mini-submarine, similar to a suicide drone on land.
Of course, in addition to suicide attacks, China can also use them as an important means of tactical surprise attacks, equivalent to drones on the battlefield.
The unmanned type 022 missile boat that may appear in the future is more to add some intelligent systems and unmanned control equipment.
In general, the cost of transformation is not high, compared with dismantling, transformation as a new strategic force has a higher cost performance.
More importantly, in modern war, the Type 022 missile ship still has the advantage of stealth and speed, which poses a non-negligible threat to the US aircraft carrier formation!
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