On April 11, satellites equipped with image sensors captured photos of the destroyers in the historic Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai. The pictures revealed that Hull 1 has been put into position, ChinaTopix reported, while a majority of the modules for Hull 2 are in the proper place as well.
In late 2016, the hulls were still over at the Dalian Shipyard, where China just finished building its first indigenously crafted aircraft carrier. As early as March 7, keel blocks inserted into the dock helped accelerate the construction of the hulls right next to one another.
The destroyers boast forward vertical launch system cells. Another section of cells is also being installed in the front of the hangar.
The Type 055 destroyers are the first of their kind for PLAN. Each ship measures 180 meters in length and 19 meters in width, making the vessels larger than the Type 052D destroyers, which measure 175 by 17 meters. As such, the Type 055 ships are larger than South Korea’s Sejong Daewang destroyers but smaller than Russia’s Slava class destroyers.
Pictures of the the Type 055’s construction first burst onto the scene in October 2015. Chinese media reported that the Type 055s would displace 12,000 tons. While some analysts speculated that the Type 055s would replace and annul the Type 052Ds, PLAN expects to operate both classes of destroyers simultaneously.
The Type 055s run about 5 billion yuan each, or roughly $750 million, according to naval defense industry news outlets.
