On November 30, 2020, an official ceremony was held at the naval base of the southern fleet of the PLA Navy in Sanya (Hainan island) for the introduction of a new project of the main hospital ship, called the southern medicine 13, into the PLA Navy. The new hospital ship is built at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group shipyard in Shanghai and has a displacement of 6000 tons. It is reported that the new ship will serve as part of the PLA Navy's southern fleet, whose operational area includes the disputed reefs in the Spratly archipelago and the Paracel Islands. The second hospital ship of this project is undergoing factory sea trials and will also be part of the PLA Navy within two months.
