Type 073 Landing Ship Medium [LSM]

The "073" medium-sized landing ship was the first medium-sized landing ship designed and built by China. In the early 1960s, in order to prepare for the liberation of Taiwan, the Chinese navy urgently needed large and medium-sized landing ships. The Type 073 medium-sized landing ship is a medium-sized tank landing ship with a bow-door open main deck, a covered high-tank deck, and a diesel double propeller. The main task of this type of ship is to transport the landing troops directly at the beachhead during the landing operation of the sea, assisting the mine-breeding ships to deploy defensive mines in the offshore area, and to serve as transportation tasks. It has the characteristics of simple structure, convenient use and low cost, and can be built in large quantities in the second and third line shipyards.

In May and June of 1963, the General Manager and the Naval Equipment Department respectively proposed a tactical technical task book (draft) for a 150-ton medium-sized landing ship, and the industrial department gave the development task to 708. After the revision of the draft task book by the Institute, in May 1965, the General Staff approved the task book with the design code 073. Its main task is to transport the landing troops and their equipment and materials at sea to land on the enemy shore. The auxiliary task is to deploy mines in the offshore area in coordination with the mine-breeding ship and to serve as a normal transportation task.

The technical design of the 708th Research Institute of China Shipbuilding was completed in September 1965, and the construction design was completed at the Dalian Shipyard in October 1966. In November 1966, the first ship of the Type 073 was laid down at the Dalian Shipyard. It was launched on the slipway in July 1967, launched in August 1969, and expanded from November to December 1969, including the boarding and retreating. Delivered on 30 December 1969. In 1970, the ship carried out a long-distance test, set sail from Dalian, and reached the farthest in Chongqing, covering more than 7,000 kilometers.

However, in the sea trial, the vibration problem of the Type 073 ship is very serious, and because the host reversing device is unreliable, the ship sometimes can only move forward and cannot retreat, which is obviously not working properly. In order to solve these problems, the design and construction unit has also tried to modify the hull to a large extent, and changed the mechanical structure of the hull. Due to the large scale of the project and the impact of the situation at that time, it was only modified in 1975. He served in the North Sea Fleet training ship brigade, later changed to interference ship, has now retired.