On September 30, 2022, at the enterprise of the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation CSBC in Kaohsiung, a ceremony was held for the commissioning into the Navy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) of the LPD 1401 Yu Shan landing helicopter dock ship built there (玉山, "Yushan" - in honor of the highest mountain in Taiwan). It became the largest warship of the Taiwanese Navy. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of China Tsai Ing-wen.
The ceremony of the entry into the Taiwanese Navy of the head landing helicopter dock ship of national construction LPD 1401 Yu Shan ("Yushan"). Kaohsiung, 30.09.2022 (c) Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of ChinaAs part of the Taiwan Navy, Yu Shan will replace the amphibious transport dock LSD 193 Hsu Hai (formerly LSD 38 Pensacola built in 1971) received in 1999 from the US Navy.
The program of construction by the national industry for the Taiwan Navy of amphibious helicopter dock ships (DVKD) was launched in 2014. The ship's design was developed by the organizations of the Ministry of National Defense and the Taiwan Navy with the participation of the CSBC Shipbuilding Corporation, which won the tender for the construction of the lead ship, receiving in April 2018 a corresponding contract worth 4.635 billion Taiwanese dollars (146 million US dollars). The ceremony of the first steel cutting for the lead ship took place at the CSBC enterprise in Kaohsiung on May 6, 2019, the official laying - on June 9, 2020, and on April 13, 2021, the ceremony of launching the ship and its baptism with the name LPD 1401 Yu Shan took place there. The ship entered factory sea trials on July 6, 2022.
In total, the Taiwan Navy plans to have from four to six Yu Shan type ships, currently CSBC has been awarded a contract for the construction of a second LPD 1402 ship. The peculiarity of ships of this type is that as part of the Taiwanese fleet, they are planned to be used, including as flagships of naval strike groups.
The total displacement of Yu Shan is 10,600 tons, length is 153 meters, width is 23 m, draft is 6 m. The power plant with a total capacity of 53641 hp consists of four MTU 20V 8000 diesel engines, a maximum speed of 22 knots, a cruising range of 12,500 miles at a cruising speed of 13 knots. The crew is 190 people, the regular amphibious capacity is 250 marines with the possibility of receiving another 233 people. The dock chamber accommodates four landing boats of the LCM type with a length of 16 m (five new boats are built specifically for basing on Yu Shan) or one of the LCU type with a length of 36 m, nine AAV7 floating armored personnel carriers can be placed on the landing deck. Two Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk multipurpose helicopters or Sikorsky S-70C Thunderhawk anti-submarine helicopters can be placed in the helicopter hangar, one Boeing CH-47SD Chinook transport helicopter can be received on the flight deck.
A feature of the ship is a very powerful armament for the DVKD class. The lead ship is equipped with four eight-container launchers of the Taiwan medium-range TC-2N naval air defense system, and four four-container anti-ship missile launchers of the Hsiung Feng II and III family can be installed instead (or a combination of SAM and RCC launchers can be used). The 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid universal artillery system, two 20-mm six-barrel Raytheon Phalanx Mk 15 Block 1B naval anti-aircraft artillery systems and two 20-mm T-75 artillery systems are also installed. The ship is equipped with Taiwan's CS/MPQ-90 Sea Bee Eye general detection radar with X-band AFAR.
The ceremony of the entry into the Taiwanese Navy of the head landing helicopter dock ship of national construction LPD 1401 Yu Shan ("Yushan"). Kaohsiung, 30.09.2022. The last picture shows the launchers of the TC-2N SAM (c) Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China, LTN News and twitterVideo:
