Taiwan commissions eighth Tuo Chiang-class corvette, expects all 12 delivered by year-end

Taiwan’s eighth Tuo Chiang-class corvette, the ROCS Tan Chiang, has formally entered service, with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) saying all 12 vessels in the class are expected to be delivered by the end of 2026. A Taiwanese defense expert said the ships will strengthen Taiwan’s deterrence and ability to respond to gray-zone threats.

President Lai presided over the commissioning ceremony for the ROCS Tan Chiang on Friday (July 24). 

He said the vessel’s entry into service marked steady progress toward Taiwan’s goal of building its own naval vessels and demonstrated the Navy’s determination to safeguard the country’s waters and national security.

Lai said the program had advanced from design validation of the prototype Tuo Chiang to the commissioning of the first batch of production vessels, led by the ROCS Ta Chiang. 

The Tan Chiang is the first ship in the second production batch, he said, adding that all 12 Tuo Chiang-class vessels are scheduled to be delivered by the end of this year.

Enhancing defense capabilities

Hsia Kuang-ya (夏光亞), a nonresident fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and a retired Republic of China Navy rear admiral, told TCN that the Tuo Chiang class provides a key asymmetric denial capability for the defense of Taiwan.

The vessels have the range and firepower to inflict severe damage on medium and large enemy warships and could serve as “carrier killers,” Hsia said. 

During wartime, they could disperse to small and medium-sized fishing ports along Taiwan’s west coast or deploy separately, substantially improving their survivability and preserving combat power, Hsia added.

China currently operates three aircraft carriers and is building a fourth.

Hsia said the class combines a low-radar-cross-section catamaran design with high-speed maneuverability and powerful anti-ship armament, including a mixed load of more than 10 Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles.

During the force-preservation phase of a conflict, Tuo Chiang-class vessels could disperse in waters off Taiwan’s east coast or at wartime dispersal anchorages, he said. 

They could conduct guerrilla-style strikes to constrain any landing force attempting to encircle Taiwan from the east or conduct a feint toward eastern Taiwan, while also deterring enemy anti-access and area-denial operations at sea, Hsia added.

Countering gray-zone operations

The New York Times reported on July 25 that armed Chinese ships have expanded patrols around Taiwan and that China has rehearsed blockade scenarios using naval vessels and military aircraft to practice sealing off access to the island.

Hsia said the Tuo Chiang class has high mobility, enabling it to respond rapidly to China’s routine gray-zone maritime incursions and potential blockade operations.

Origins of the program

Hsia said the Tuo Chiang class was conceived as part of the ROC Navy’s effort to establish an innovative, asymmetric maritime strike force in response to emerging threats. The result was a stealthy, high-speed catamaran armed with powerful anti-ship weapons.

The program, proposed in 2009 by then-Navy Commander Wang Li-shen (王立申) under the codename "Hsun Hai," or "Swift Sea," was championed by then-Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), who later became an admiral and commander of the ROC Navy. The initial proposal called for building between seven and 11 stealth missile patrol ships of around 500 tons.

Hsia said Chen was the key proponent and driving force behind the Tuo Chiang program.

Chen helped advance the construction plan, oversaw the building, sea trials and delivery of the prototype, and supervised operational testing and design improvements, Hsia said.

Chen also promoted asymmetric warfare concepts and a force-building approach emphasizing ships that are “small but sophisticated” and “small but strong,” Hsia said. Chen helped establish the baseline tactical specifications for fitting the vessels with domestically produced Hsiung Feng III and Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles, as well as Sea Sword II surface-to-air missiles, laying the foundation for phased procurement and mass production.

The prototype Tuo Chiang was launched in 2014, when Chen was Navy commander, and entered service in 2015.

Naming tradition

Hsia said the Tuo Chiang class is categorized by the ROC Navy as a third-rank vessel. Ships in this category are generally named after Taiwanese rivers and streams, or after decommissioned vessels, with the character “Chiang,” meaning river, added to the name.

The prototype was named after the earlier ROCS Tuo Chiang, PC-104, which distinguished itself during the 1958 Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Following the naming of the second vessel, the ROCS Ta Chiang, the military for the first time publicly invited members of the public to vote online on names for subsequent ships. Tan Chiang ranked eighth in that vote, Hsia said.

International competitiveness

Hsia said the Tuo Chiang-class design, with its high speed, stealth features and heavy anti-ship firepower, has drawn interest from several countries.

However, he said the vessel is considered highly unlikely to receive export approval because of sensitive arms-export regulations, restrictions involving classified equipment and concerns over supply-chain autonomy.

The program has nevertheless supported Taiwan’s domestic shipbuilding industry, Hsia said. Lungteh Shipbuilding, which built the prototype and production vessels demonstrated strong hull-welding and catamaran-construction capabilities, delivering the ships to the Navy on schedule and to the required standard.

Lungteh has also received international orders for patrol vessels, unmanned surface vessels and vessels serving the offshore wind industry, Hsia said. These include patrol vessels for Singapore’s Police Coast Guard, unmanned surface vessels and a twin-hull vessel for Britain’s offshore wind sector.

Follow-on upgrades

According to the Ministry of National Defense’s latest list of controlled military items, the Navy planned to spend NT$250 billion (about US$7.7 billion) between 2028 and 2040 to build 10 follow-on light frigates.

The ships would be developed in two parallel variants: five air-defense versions and five anti-submarine warfare versions. The follow-on air-defense frigate could potentially adopt a catamaran configuration with a modestly enlarged hull, leading observers to describe it as an enlarged version of the Tuo Chiang class.

Hsia said such a catamaran design would provide a larger deck and greater internal space, allowing the ships to carry more anti-ship missiles. Combined with surface-to-air missiles, a 3D phased-array radar and an advanced combat-management system, each light frigate could become a highly mobile maritime firepower platform, Hsia added.

Operating alongside Taiwan’s existing major surface combatants and Tuo Chiang-class vessels, the new frigates could form a stronger force for denying enemy maritime operations, he said.