NATO assigns Chinese submarine class names apparently based on dynasty names (Ming, Han, etc) for who knows what reason. Destroyers and frigates are assigned class code names based usually on one of the yards they're spotted to be building at, or if already taken another large identifiable city. Beyond that, individual ships are classified by NATO either by hull number or by known PLAAN identifier. The Chinese themselves only assign number identification to their sub hulls, while surface ships are assigned both a prominent identification number and an actual vessel name (similar to US practice). It's my understanding that surface ships are named rather randomly too - some destroyers are indeed named after cities, others after captains of particular noteworthiness, militarily or politically.
Since there's only one carrier, and since we have a fairly good idea who it's named after, NATO just uses the actual PLAAN identifier.
Posts:20 Joined: June 22nd, 2011, 7:25 pm
Location: UK
Hello,
I'm really sorry if this isn't the right area to put this question but I have been looking for World War One submarines on this site but I can't seem to find any. Has anybody drawn any?