BEIJING, May 21 -- The decommissioning ceremony for the Chinese naval guided-missile frigate Dandong (Hull 543) was held at a military port in the PLA Southern Theater Command on May 19. The service members assigned to a frigate flotilla of the Navy under the PLA Southern Theater Command lined up to bid the final farewell to frigate Dandong, which had served in the PLA Navy for 36 years.

The frigate Dandong was independently designed and built by China in the 1980s. Since being commissioned, it has completed major tasks of combat readiness patrol, maritime rights protection and overseas visits, and has participated in various kinds of drills and exercises for hundreds of times, making outstanding contributions to protecting China’s maritime rights and interests and safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and security. Early last year, the frigate Dandong created a record of keeping combat readiness at sea for consecutive 103 days when performing combat readiness patrol in a particular sea area.

After decommissioning, the frigate Dandong will be handed over to Dandong City, Liaoning Province, serving as a patriotism and national defense education base in the city.