How do China's new 'Water Bridge' ships work?

China running naval drills around Taiwan isn't exactly new

but the People's Liberation Army Navy made waves recently when this video emerged showing new Chinese barges

The vessels link together to form a 2,700-foot-long causeway, which could be used to transfer large numbers of troops and equipment from ship to shore

ysts and military experts point to China's plans to potentially invade Taiwan

and say these barges could be used in that operation. But how exactly do they work

Let's go ahead and take a look at that. So according to ysis from the U.S. Naval War College of Satellite Imagery

the Shui Chow ships come in three different classes, the 110, the 135, and the 185

The number of the class refers to the length of the ship in meters

and Shui Chau means water bridge, which is exactly what these ships do. Now the smallest

of the ships, the 110 is the one that actually connects to the land by lowering a Bailey bridge

You can see it right there. The midsize ship, the 135, this is the one that kind of connects. It's

the midsize and it's the middle connecting ship. It connects to the largest of the vessels, the 185

with another Bailey Bridge. Something of note here, because of the distance from the shore

that these barges provide, the last two barges also serve as a dock

For stability, each of the barges also has a number of sea legs

which you can see right here, which actually lower into the seabed

and raises the ship out of the water The Chinese were observed running drills with the barges recently Current estimates show with five offload points in total by using the water bridge the Chinese could offload a heavy arms battalion of 150 vehicles in 40 to 60 minutes

However, offloading ships would need to leave the area before new ships could move in

The Chinese are still practicing those maneuvers, so it's not clear how many vehicles they could offload in a day

The main benefits of the Shui Chao craft mean the PLAN can choose from multiple landing sites in a possible Taiwan invasion

and not be forced to make an amphibious landing at known locations

which may be easier geographically but are known to the Taiwanese as well, so are more heavily defended

But the barges are extremely vulnerable to attack from land, air, sea, and undersea

They're also very slow and would likely only be deployed if the Chinese were able to take out most of Taiwan's missile defenses and artillery

Also, if the first ship in the chain, the Shuiqiao 110, is disabled

it's not clear the other two ships would be able to get equipment from ship to shore

According to the ysts at the U.S. Naval War College, the Shuiqiao-class landing barges do offer the Chinese a critical capability

and fulfill a long-sought requirement to deliver large volumes of troops and equipment

in an amphibious landing. And while the process of deploying them is still being worked out

the water bridges are just the latest example of China's commitment to a potential cross-strait operation in the coming years

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