Type 637 tanker

Type 637 tanker is a type of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Originally designed as a type that is capable of transport both water and oil, these ships entered service from 1981 onward for both military and civilian, but only the oiler version has entered service with PLAN (as of 2015).

Type 637 tankers 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, because these ships are classified as oilers. 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 may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention. A unique visual cue that makes Type 637 readily identifiable and distinguished from other Chinese oilers is that its hull is strengthened with additional strips of metal that stretched along the freeboard. Type 637 oiler is capable of carrying three hundred tons of oil.