Type 636 hydrographic survey ship

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The Type 636 and its successor Type 636A are Chinese hydrographic survey ships designed to replace the older Type 625 and Type 635 vessels. They operate with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the Chinese Coast Guard and are known to NATO as the Shupang class. Both ships were designed by the 708th Institute of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), also called the China Shipbuilding and Oceanic Engineering Design Academy, with an emphasis on reducing vibration and internal noise.

The ships are powered by marine diesel engines and have no armament, armor, aircraft, or aviation facilities. The first Type 636 was built by Wuhu Shipyard and entered service in August 1998; it was transferred to the Chinese Coast Guard on November 16, 2011. The Type 636A is its successor, with construction of the first ship beginning at Wuhu Shipyard in May 2003, and it carries more than two dozen surveying systems on board. Each ship carries two names: a naval pennant name honoring eminent scientists and a civilian Hai Yang name in a numbered ocean series. They are named after contemporary Chinese scientists.