ZHUHAI, May 18 -- The Chinese military’s last Type 051 guided-missile destroyer Zhuhai (Hull 166) is about to retire and scheduled to settle down in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province of China. At present, the designated receiving unit is arranging for its handover and applying for a provincial themed patriotism education base for it.

The destroyer Zhuhai (Hull 166) was commissioned to the South China Sea Fleet under the PLA Navy in 1992. The vessel is a Type 051G2 destroyer with a length of 128.6m, a width of 12.8m, and a draft of 4.6m. The ship’s standard displacement is 3,250t, and full-load displacement 3,670t.

As a diplomatic flagship of the PLA Navy, destroyer Zhuhai (Hull 166) undertook many foreign visit missions in the 1990s and therefore became a flagship destroyer of frequent occurrence at that time. In August 1995, destroyer Zhuhai visited Indonesia to participate in the Indonesian International Fleet Review (IFR); from February 20 to May 28, 1997, a fleet composed of guided-missile destroyers Zhuhai (Hull 116) and Harbin (Hull 112) visited the United States, Chile, Peru, Mexico and other South American countries, and then came to Australia, completing the first round-the-world voyage since the establishment of the PLA Navy.