Beiqi 346-class crane ship

Beiqi 346 class crane ship is a class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).[1] The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and a total of four units of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.[1]

History
PRC
General characteristics
Class and type:	Beiqi 346
Displacement:	1,058 t (1,041 long tons; 1,166 short tons) standard 1,219 t (1,200 long tons; 1,344 short tons) full load
Length:	40 m (131 ft 3 in)
Beam:	20.5 m (67 ft 3 in)
Draft:	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)standard 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) full load
Depth:	3.4 m (11 ft 2 in)
Decks:	1
Electronic warfare & decoys:	None
Armament:	Unarmed
Aircraft carried:	None
Aviation facilities:	None

Beiqi 346 class series ships in PLAN service are designated by a combination of two Chinese characters followed by three-digit number. The second Chinese character is Qi (起), short for Qi-Zhong (起重), because these ships are classified as crane ships. 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.