According to a tweet published by Ryan Chan on September 21, 2022, new pictures of the third Taiwanese (Republic of China) Tuo Chiang class corvette have been released.
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The third Tuo Chiang class corvette (Picture source: Twitter account of Ryan Chan)
The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a Taiwanese-designed class of fast (up to 45 knots, 83 km/h, 52 mph) and stealthy multi-mission corvettes built for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Navy. The program was announced by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of National Defense (MND) on 12 April 2010.
In 2011, the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan approved a NT$24.98 billion (US$853.4 million) budget to fund the construction of up to 12 ships.
In December 2020 the first of the improved Tuo Chiang-class corvettes, PGG-619 Ta Chiang, was launched in Yilan. 6 improved models are to be delivered by 2023.
It is designed to counter the numerous and increasingly sophisticated People's Liberation Army Navy ships by utilizing hit-and-run tactics, and thus featured clean upper structure design with very few extrusions to reduce radar signature, pre-cooled engine exhaust to reduce infrared signature, and a reduced visual signature to reduce chance of detection.
The ship is a wave-piercing catamaran design that is 60.4 meters (198 ft) long, 14 meters (46 ft) wide, and carries a crew of 41. It is capable of a top speed of 40 knots and a range of 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi).
It is armed with eight subsonic Hsiung Feng II and eight supersonic Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles launchers, a Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, and a 76 mm (3 in) main gun.
The ship can operate up to sea state 7 in waves up to 20–30 ft (6.1–9.1 m) high.
