Yulin class gunboats were gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

s of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

's People's Liberation Army Navy

People's Liberation Army Navy

The People's Liberation Army Navy is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army , the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation...

. They first entered service in the 1960s, but had been completely taken out of active service by the late 1990s, and were transferred to law enforcement agencies. However, just like the Shantou

Shantou class gunboat

The Shantou class gunboat, was a Chinese built gunboat of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy. Known in the United States as the "Swatow" class gunboat; it was based on the Soviet P-6 class torpedo boat. The boat is designated as Type 55A...

, Huangpu

Huangpu class gunboat

Huangpu class gunboats were gunboats of the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy. They entered service in the 1970s and had been completely taken out of active service by the early 2000s and were transferred to law enforcement agencies...

 and Beihai classes that were transferred for law enforcement adaptation, these obsolete and aging boats are not satisfactory in their new roles due to their low maximum speed, sometime as low as 10 knots, which was not sufficient enough to catch the smugglers' high speed motorboats. As a result, these boats were subsequently transferred again, this time to reserves, subordinated to naval militia in various Military Maritime Districts in China as training boats and port security / patrol boats within the confines of the harbors. Increasingly, the class is assigned to ferry duties.

Though this class is relatively in better conditions than the Shantou, Huangpu and Beihai classes because they are preserved and maintained on land, like the Shantou, Huangpu and Beihai classes, as the new class of port security / patrol boats entering service, the Yulin class is increasingly being converted, mothballed and eventually scrapped.

Just like the Shantou, Huangpu and Beihai classes, many of the surviving units are being converted to target drones controlled by larger boats such as those mentioned, and thus reactivated into active service as minor support auxiliaries. When the drones are in operation, crew departs the boat.