PLA Navy

People's Liberation Army Navy
Flag of the People's Liberation Army Navy
Active	September 1950–present
Country	People's Republic of China
Allegiance	Communist Party of China
Branch	People's Liberation Army
Type	Navy
Role	Naval warfare
Size	255,000 personnel (2012) 492 ships (excl. auxiliaries) Approx. 710+ aircraft
Fleet	1 aircraft carrier 4 amphibious transport docks 32 landing ship tanks 31 landing ship medium 28 destroyers 48 frigates 31 corvettes 109 missile boats 94 submarine chasers 17 gunboats 29 mine countermeasure vessels 70 submarines 11 replenishment ships (232 auxiliaries)
Engagements	Chinese Civil War Battle of the Paracel Islands Sino-Vietnamese War Anti-piracy operations in Somalia Johnson South Reef Skirmish
Commanders
Commander	Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong
Political Commissar	Admiral Miao Hua
Aircraft flown
Attack	JH-7
Bomber	H-6, Q-5
Electronic warfare	Y-8
Fighter	J-8, J-10, J-11, Su-30MK2, J-15
Helicopter	Z-8, Z-9, Mi-8, Z-10, Ka-28, AS365
Interceptor	J-7, J-8
Patrol	Y-8, Y-9
Reconnaissance	Y-9
Trainer	JL-8, JL-9
Transport	Y-7, Y-9

The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; Chinese: 中国人民解放军海军), also known as the PLA Navy, is the naval warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of China and by default, the national armed force of the People's Republic of China. The PLAN can trace its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese Civil War and was established in September 1950. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s the Soviet Union provided assistance to the PLAN in the form of naval advisers and export of equipment and technology. Until the late 1980s, the PLAN was largely a riverine and littoral force (brown-water navy). However, by the 1990s, following the fall of the Soviet Union and a shift towards a more forward-oriented foreign and security policy, the leaders of the Chinese military were freed from worrying over land border disputes, and instead turned their attention towards the seas. This led to the development of the People's Liberation Army Navy into a green-water navy by 2009. Before the 1990s the PLAN had traditionally played a subordinate role to the People's Liberation Army Ground Force.

In 2008, General Qian Lihua confirmed that China plans to operate a small fleet of aircraft carriers in the near future, but for the purpose of regional defence as opposed to "global reach". As of 2013 PLA officials have also outlined plans to operate in the first and second island chains. Chinese strategists term the development of the PLAN from a green-water navy into "a regional blue-water defensive and offensive navy."

The People's Liberation Army Navy is composed of five branches; the People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force, the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, the People's Liberation Army Navy Coastal Defense Force, the People's Liberation Army Marine Corps and the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force. With a personnel strength of 255,000 servicemen and women, including 10,000 marines and 26,000 naval air force personnel, it is the second largest navy in the world in terms of tonnage, only behind the United States Navy, and has the largest number of major combatants of any navy.