Haiqing-class submarine chaser

The Haiqing class are a submarine chaser/patrol boat of the People's Liberation Army Navy. There is some disagreement over the type designation of this class, some sources claim it is Type 037I, while others claim it is Type 037IS.

Unlike western navies, the PLAN does not have dedicated patrol boats in its inventory, instead, a variety of naval vessels ranged from minesweepers to fast attack craft are deployed for patrol duties. The Haiqing class is one of such Chinese designs and it is a cross between gunboats and the submarine chaser, based on Type 037 (Hainan class). These boats were first built by the Qiuxin Shipyard of Shanghai, and later by Huangpu Shipyard.

The vessel is armed with two 6-tubed anti-submarine mortar launchers. Early variant Haiqing class are fitted with two manually operated twin-barrel 37 mm guns, but they are replaced by two automatic 37 mm guns on the later variants. They also have various other mounted heavy machine guns for patrol duty. These weapons focus on a general-purpose patrol boat, with only a limited anti-submarine capability.