Type 7103 DSRV
| History | |
|---|---|
 People's Liberation Army Navy
|
|
| Name: | Type 7103 DSRV |
| Ordered: | 4 |
| Awarded: | 4 |
| Builder: | Wuchang Shipbuilding Factory |
| Laid down: | 1976 |
| Launched: | January, 1980 |
| Sponsored by: | PLAN |
| Completed: | 1986 |
| Acquired: | 1987 |
| Commissioned: | November, 1987 |
| Recommissioned: | 1996 or 1997 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1981 |
| In service: | 1987 |
| Refit: | 1994–1996 |
| Fate: | In service |
| Status: | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Deep-submergence vehicle |
| Displacement: | 35 t |
| Length: | 15 m (49 ft) |
| Beam: | 2.6 m (8.5 ft) |
| Draft: | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Installed power: | silver–zinc batteries |
| Propulsion: | electrical |
| Speed: | 4 kt |
| Endurance: | 24h |
| Test depth: | 600 m (2,000 ft) |
| Complement: | 2 - 4 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
BP-1 sonar & search lights |
The Type 7103 Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) is a submarine rescue submersible of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Type 7103 DSRV was intended to rescue sailors trapped in submarine lost at the sea, and when the decision was made to develop a DSRV, the project number 7103 was given, and subsequently was also used to indicate the type designation. It was jointly developed by a team that included the 701st Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Harbin Shipbuilding Engineering Institute (HSEI, later reorganized as Harbin Engineering University), Huazhong Institute of Technology (HIT, later reorganized as Huazhong University of Science and Technology), and the same builder of the Osprey class submersibles in Chinese service, Wuchang Shipbuilding Factory (later reorganized to Wuhan Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Inc.) Type 7103 DSRV is the first manned submersible in China.
In April, 1971, the then 34-year-old assistant professor Zhu Jimao (朱继懋,February, 1932 -) of HSEI was named by the 6th Ministry as the chief designer of Type 7103 DSRV. A 1954 Shanghai Jiaotong University graduate, Professor Zhu was in charge of some of the tests of Type 091 submarine, the first Chinese nuclear submarine in the 1960s, and had successfully developed some subsystems used on the SSN, such as the underwater autopilot, reverse thruster controlling system, and resistance measuring system. In his work, Professor Zhu has suggested a new experimental methodology of determining the shape of the submarine that would minimize the drag by based on the theory of wave drag with the peak of the transverse wave that has low Fr value, and this resulted in the successful completion of the water tank used for testing. Due to his past success and achievement, Professor Zhu was assigned as the general designer of Type 7103 DSRV at young age, and he immediately joined his colleagues in a small test facilities on the bank of Lake Tai, sacrificing his personal life, as with the rest of the team. For example, Professor Zhu did not see his daughter for more than a year after she was born. Also in April, 1971, a joint team was set up at Wuhan Shipbuilding Factory, with the 701st Research Institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation as the general design team and HSEI as the deputy general design team.
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