Type 645 tanker is a type of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and this type has received NATO reporting name as Guangzhou class. Originally designed as a coastal oiler that is capable of transport both water and oil, around twenty-three entered service, with four as water tankers and sixteen as oilers. This class has begun to be retired from active military service in the mid-2010s.
Type 645 series ships in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is You (油), meaning oil in Chinese, or Shui (水), meaning water, because these ships are classified either as oil and water tankers. The first Chinese character denotes which fleet the ship is service with, with East (Dong, 东) for East Sea Fleet, North (Bei, 北) for North Sea Fleet, and South (Nan, 南) for South Sea Fleet. However, the pennant numbers are subject to change due to changes of Chinese naval ships naming convention, or units are transferred to different fleets. As of early 2020s, all oiler version have retired, and only four water tanker (AWT) version remains in service.
Type Pennant # Status Fleet 645 Bei-Shui 590 Active North Sea Fleet 645 Bei-Shui 593 Active North Sea Fleet 645 Bei-You 571 Retired North Sea Fleet 645 Dong-Shui 645 Active East Sea Fleet 645 Dong-You 624 Retired East Sea Fleet 645 Nan-Shui 954 Retired South Sea Fleet Oilers Various Retired All fleets
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