Through 60-years of development, the surface force of the PLA Navy has transformed into a maritime force with various kinds of vessels, including destroyers, frigates, and torpedo boats. It also has a strong ability to work with air and land forces. Now, let's take a look at its birth and growth.

The Chinese Navy was founded in 1949, with two fleets made up of 20 poorly-equipped vessels. Four years later, China bought four advanced ships from the Soviet Union. For the next 20 years, they became the Chinese navy's most powerful surface ships.

The 1970s saw the navy make a big step forward from importing and imitating other countries' ships to designing and producing vessels on its own. China has developed three generations of home-produced surface ships since then. The "Ji Nan" of the North Sea Fleet marked the first generation. During its 36-year service, it has conducted more than 14-hundred arming exercises, including equipping missiles, artilleries, and battle command system.

In the 1990s, the second generation of home-produced destroyers made their debut, representing a modernized ship with missile-launching capacity, "Ha Er" and its sister ship "Qing Dao."

The joint military exercises between Russia and China in 2005 marked the third generation of missile destroyers becoming the backbone of Chinese navy forces.

Since then, China's navy force has entered an era of rapid-expansion. The navy is now well-armed with escort ships, speedboats, gunboats, minesweepers and supply ships. The surface fleet has transformed into a force with a strong capacity for transporting army divisions, patrolling, sweeping for mines, and rescuing and escorting. China's navy is now armed with hundreds of combat vessels of class three and above, with a tonnage of five times that of 30 years ago. The naval forces have also completed hundreds of military exercises, cruises, scientific research projects and overseas visits.

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