China Commissions Second Type 055 Class Destroyer Lhasa: The Most Powerful Surface Combatant at Sea?

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has commissioned the second of eight Type 055 Class heavy destroyers, the Lhasa, with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) announcing the landmark event on March 7th. The Type 055 Class is estimated to displace between 12,000 and 13,000 tons, and six more of the ships are currently undergoing sea trials or being outfitted before being accepted into frontline service. The Type 055 Class was highlighted in a 2020 report by the British defence think tank IISS as possibly the most capable surface combatant in the world, and has been commissioned alongside larger numbers of the lighter and cheaper Type 052D Class ships. Each ship boasts a very large arsenal of 112 vertical launch cells, compared to just 96 carried by the most heavily armed American and Japanese AEGIS destroyers such as the Arleigh Burke Class and Maya Class and just 48 on the most capable European destroyers such as the British Type 45 and French and Italian Horizon Class ships. The Chinese ships also make use of a more advanced stealth profile than any other class of destroyer other than the American Zumwalt Class - of which only three were ever built and which is still not ready for frontline combat. 

The warship Lhasa was named after the capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, following on from the first ship of the class named the Nanchang which is the capital and largest city of Jiangxi Province. The Nanchang has the hull number 101 and was commissioned on January 12, 2020, while the Lhasa has the hull number 102. The new warship is thought to be allocated to the PLA Navy’s Northern Theatre Command Navy, which also operates the country’s first aircraft carrier the Liaoning for which the Lhasa is expected to serve as an escort. The ship 180 meters long and 22 meters wide, and is one of very few in the world to use a dual band radar which makes it well suited to extreme range anti ship and long range air defence operations. Type 055 Class destroyers currently deploy some of the most diverse arsenals of missiles on the world, including four classes of surface to air missile specialised at engaging targets at various ranges, and their considerable excess power and onboard space allows them to potentially integrate new classes of advanced armaments such as laser weapons and railguns in future. New turbo generator technologies could help further increase the ships' potential in this regard. China has yet to reveal plans for a successor to the Type 055 Class, with some analysts speculating that a much heavier cruiser sized ship could be developed while others expect a more conservative design with a designation such as ‘Type 055B’ which is closely based on the original Type 055 Class.