The Activity Of The PLAN Ships In The Black Sea

The Jingkai II (Type 054A) class frigate 538 Yantai of PLAN passing through Bosphorus

The Ludu (Type 052A) class destroyer 113 Qingdao of PLAN passing through Bosphorus

With each passing day more information surfaces about the PLAN warships that passed through the Turkish Straits and entered to the Black Sea. Apparently The Ludu (Type 052A) class destroyer 113 Qingdao, the Jingkai II (Type 054A) class frigate 538 Yantai and the Nanyun class replenishment tanker Weishan Hu 887 made up the 11th Chinese Naval Escort Task Force. This PLAN task force was escorting merchant ships during the pirate infested water for the last 4 months.

According to the below article, one week ago they have left their are of responsibility and started their current journey and will visit Turkey too.

Now Qingdao is in Sevastopol will stay there till 4th August.

The 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) left the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somali coast where the taskforce had conducted escort missions for more than four months and embarked on its new voyage of visits on July 23, 2012.

Up to now, the 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce has accomplished 43 escort missions for 184 Chinese and foreign ships, effectively coped with and repelled the harassments by 126 suspected pirate boats in 58 batches, and ensured the safety of the escorted ships and the taskforce.

After its departure from the waters of the Gulf of Aden, the 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce is scheduled to pay a friendly visit to Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Bulgaria and Israel successively in two columns. It is the first time for the Chinese naval ships to visit Romania, Bulgaria and Israel.

But there are still some unanswered questions:
1) The The Ludu class destroyer Qingdao entered to the port of Sevastopol today. But where is the frigate Yantai? She did not appeared in Sevastopol. So where is she, in Romania or Bulgaria?
2) Where is the tanker Weishan Hu? She did not follow the other ships into the Black Sea; she did not passed through the Turkish Straits. So she must be still in the Med. But where?

For the answer to question 1 click here.