In the past two-and-a-half years, this reporter has written several pieces on the capabilities of the Taiwanese Navy, officially the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), specifically covering their woefully antiquated submarine fleet as well as their considerably newer Kee Lung-class destroyers and their Tuo Chiang-class and Ching Chiang-class corvettes. This time, Yours Truly shall cover the Taiwanese Navy’s frigate fleet.  

According to the World Directory of Modern Military Warships (WDMMW), the ROCN has a total of twenty-two frigates, which are “Hulls defined as dimensionally smaller than Destroyers, though larger than corvettes, having Blue Water capabilities.” Putting those twenty-two hulls in Big Picture perspective, the total size of the ROCN arsenal is ninety-two warships, ranking Taiwan twelfth out of thirty-nine total naval services. 

Taiwan’s frigates are divided into three classes.  

Kang Ding-Class  

These are based on the French Navy La Fayette-class frigates. There are six such ships in the class: 

--Kang Ding (Hull No. 1202), commissioned in June 1996 

--Si Ning (Hull No. 1203), commissioned in September 1996  

--Wu Chang (Hull No. 1205), commissioned in December 1997  

--Di Hua (Hull No. 1206), commissioned in August 1997 

--Kun Ming (Hull No. 1207), commissioned in August 1998  

--Chen Te (Hull No. 1209), commissioned in January 1998 

Vital stats and tech specs of the Kang Ding-class, according to the Naval Technology website, are: 

• Displacement (fully laden): 3,500 tons 

• Hull Length: 125 meters (410.1 feet) 

• Beam Width: 15.4 meters (50.5 feet) 

• Draught: Four meters (13.1 feet) 

• Max Speed: Twenty-five knots 

• Crew Complement: 134 (fifteen commissioned officers, 119 enlisted sailors) 

• Armament: 

• One OTO Melara 76 mm/62 caliber Mk 75 main gun 

• Two Bofors 40 mm L70 guns 

• One Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon System) 

• Eight Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles 

• One MIM-72 Chaparral surface-to-air missile (SAM) 

• Six Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes (divvied into two triple-tubes) fitted for Alliant Techsystems Mk 46 Mod 5 torpedoes 

In February 2022, it was announced that the Kang Dings would be upgraded with French assistance; valued at 43.1 billion New Taiwan Dollars (equivalent to 1.37 billion USD at the time), the upgrades would integrate systems developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), such as the TC-2N surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. 

PFG-2 Cheng Kung-class  

These are specifically designated as guided missile patrol frigates, based upon the time-honored U.S. Oliver Hazard Perry-class. According to Naval Technology, “The frigates were originally designed to conduct convoy escort missions. The ROCN deploys PFG-2 vessels in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and fleet air defense missions. The frigates perform all the assigned missions and meet the requirements of the Taiwan Navy.”  

There are eight ships in this line: 

--ROCS Cheng Kung (PFG-1101), commissioned in May 1993 

--ROCS Cheng Ho (PFG-1103), commissioned in March 1994 

--ROCS Chi Kuang (PFG-1105),  commissioned in May 1995 

 --ROCS Yueh Fei (PFG-1106), commissioned in February 1996 

--ROCS Tzu I (PFG-1107), commissioned in January 1997 

--ROCS Pan Chao (PFG-1108), commissioned in December 1997 

--ROCS Chang Chien (PFG-1109), commissioned in November 1998. 

Tech Specs: 

• Displacement (fully laden): 4,165 tons 

• Hull Length: 138 meters (452.7 feet) 

• Beam Width: 13.7 meters (44.9 feet) 

• Draught: 5.7 meters (18.7 feet) 

• Max Speed: twenty-nine knots 

• Crew Complement: 235 commissioned officers and enlisted sailors 

• Armament: Same as the Kang Ding-class, plus: 

• Two Type 75 20 mm/68 caliber guns 

• One Mk 13 Launcher for Raytheon (General Dynamics) RIM-66 Standard MR SAMs 

• Four Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles 

Chi Yang-class 

These warships are the most aged of the bunch, having begun their service lives as members of the U.S. Knox-class, which were built between 1965 and 1974 and were in commission with the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1994. Eight of these were sold to the ROCN, but two of them, ROCS Chi Yang (FFG-932; formerly the USS Robert E. Peary [FF-1073]) and ROCS Hai Yang (FFG-936; formerly USS Cook [FF-1083]) were retired in May 2015, and ROCS Lan Yang (FFG-395; formerly USS Joseph Hewes [FF-1078]) set to be decommissioned sometime this month. 

That leaves the Taiwanese Navy with: 

--ROCS Fong Yang (FFG-933; formerly USS Brewton [FF 1086]), recommissioned into ROCN in 1999  

--ROCS Fen Yang (FFG-934; formerly USS Kirk [FF-1987], recommissioned into ROCN in 1999  

--ROCS Hwai Yang (FFG-937 1972/99) - formerly USS Barbey [FF-1088]), recommissioned into ROCN in 1999  

--ROCS Ning Yang (FFG-938; formerly USS Aylwin [FF-1981]), recommissioned into ROCN in 1998 

--ROCS Yi Yang (FFG-939 ; formerly USS Valdez [FF-1096]), recommissioned into ROCN in 1998  

Dimensions: 

• Displacement (fully laden): 4,065 tons 

• Hull Length: 134 meters (438.0 feet) 

• Beam Width: 14.25 meters (44.9 feet) 

• Draught: 7.54 meters (24.75 feet) 

• Max Speed: Twenty-seven knots 

• Crew Complement: 257 (seventeen commissioned officers, 240 enlisted sailors) 

• Armament:  

• One 5-inch (127 mm)/54 caliber main gun 

• One Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon System) 

• Two dual Mark 32 Mark 46 torpedo launchers 

• One Mk 16 8-cell RUR-5 ASROC (anti-submarine rocket) launcher, with two cells, converted to launch Harpoon anti-surface ship missiles. 

Where to From Here? 

The Chi Yangs are expected to be replaced by the upcoming 2,500-ton Light Frigates. 

For the basis of comparison, Red China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has 427 warships in its arsenal, including forty-five frigates. It’s no surprise that mainland China and behemoth Beijing would have an exponential numerical military advantage over the little island nation that is the ROC. 

But, numbers alone never tell the whole story in a shooting war, whether strictly hypothetical, or actual, as the Russian Navy’s embarrassing losses in their “special military operation” in Ukraine dramatically demonstrate. As the saying goes, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."  

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can oftentimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

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