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The Wuhan 351 Guided Missile Submarine

By: Garrick He

First seen in late 1987, the Wuhan 351 is a modified Romeo Class (Type 033G) (SSG), designated ES5G, converted as a trials anti-ship missile platform. The project was probably inspired by the Cold War era conventional-powered Russian Juliette class cruise missile submarine. The Wuhan 351's structure consist of six missile launcher tubes which are built into the casing abreast the conning tower and elevated to fire. To provide target acquisition an additional radar mast (Snoop Tray) is mounted between the two periscopes. It uses Pike Jaw or Hercules, hull mounted, search and attack, medium frequency sonar.

Displacement: 1,650 tons surfaced and 2,100 tons submerged
Dimensions: 76.6 x 6.7 x 5.2 meters
Speed: 13 knots submerged, 15 knots surfaced and 10 knots snorting
Endurance: 9 knots at 14,000 nm surface. 4 knots at 330 nm submerged (batteries)
Propulsion: Twin shafts. Diesel-electric drive.
Engines: 2x Type 37D diesel engines at 4,000 hp each. 2x PG series electric motors at 2,700 hp each. 2x creep motors at 100 hp each.
Crew complement: 10 officers and 44 Enlisted.
Armaments: 8x 533mm torpedo tubes. Six bow mounted and two are stern mounted. 14 torpedoes or 28 mines.
Missiles: 6x C-801 anti-ship missiles in watertight launcher tubes.

The Wuhan 351's primary weapon system consist of 6 missile launchers, 3x launchers on either side of the conning tower. Each of those watertight launcher tubes carries a single C-801 anti-ship missile. The C-801 incorporates technologies such as inertial cruise, active radar homing sea-skimmer with 40 km (22 nautical miles) range at 0.9 Mach. The C-801 may soon be replaced by C-802. The secondary weapon system consist of 8x 533mm torpedo tubes with 14 torpedoes or 28 mines. The submarine has to surface to fire missiles, although trials are reported to implement an encapsulated missile which can be launched from the torpedo tube while submerged. Based in the North Sea Fleet and reported still doing trials in 1999. Clearly there is no intention to fit this type of missile tube in other classes.

Special thanks to koxinga for the correction and additional information.

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