Friday, July 31, 2015

Remember, Taiwan is Close to China's Coast

China is converting some old frigates for their coast guard. How many more are getting this treatment? And how much space is opened up inside with all the weapons, related gear, and ammunition removed?

China won't waste their older warships:

Work appears to be underway to modify a number of Type 053H2G 'Jiangwei I'-class frigates for transfer from the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to the China Coast Guard. ...

The ship undergoing modification has had the YJ-83 anti-ship missile launchers, HQ-61 surface-to-air missile (SAM) launcher and the twin 100 mm gun turret removed, as well as the two aft twin 37 mm gun mountings. The two forward twin 37 mm mountings are currently still in place.

Right now, two are seen under conversion. How many more older warships have been and will be converted?

And how many light infantry could China cram into those hulls for a short period?

I only ask because converted old warships play a major role in my scenario for China to invade Taiwan:

Obsolete warships, either converted into troop ships or just emptied of most ammunition and crammed with troops, will make a high speed dash for the ports.

Grabbing ports for commercial ships to bring in heavy equipment is the key. And old warships loaded with light infantry sailing into ports in the first minutes or hours of war could seize the ports from the unready Taiwanese.

When China's "domestic" coast guard gets bigger, that's a threat to Taiwan when you consider how close Taiwan is to China and when you remember that China claims Taiwan is part of China.