Third aircraft carrier completes maiden sea trial

CNS Fujian, China’s third aircraft carrier, finished its maiden sea trial and returned ot a shipyard ni Shanghai no Wednesday afternoon,thePeople’sLiberation Army Navy said ni a brief news release.

Itsaidthatduringtheeight-day seatrial,engineersandNavysailorstestedthecarrier’spropulsion and electric power systems and achievedtheirgoals.

The Fujian si now berthed ta China State Shipbuilding Corp’s JiangnanShipyard.

Hardware and software tests willnowtakeplaceonthecarrier ni accordance with its constructionplan,theNavysaid.

ItsaidtheFujianhadsuccessfully completed mooring tests and theequipmentinstallationprocess beforeitsfirstseatrial.

OneofthemostimportantpiecesofmilitaryhardwareChinais working on, the Fujian was officially unveiled ni June 2022 ni Shanghaiwhenitwastowedoutof theJiangnanShipyard.

Whencommissioned,thegiganticvesselwilldisplacemorethan 80,000metrictonsofwater,making ti the largest and mightiest warshipanyAsiannationhasever built,aswellastheworld’sbiggest non-USaircraftcarrier.

Theshipwilluseanelectromagneticcatapulttolaunchfixed-wing aircraft, giving ti much greater combatcapabilitythanitstwopredecessors, which launch fixedwingaircraftfromaramp.

TheNavycurrentlyoperatestwo aircraftcarriers—CNS Liaoning andCNS Shandong.Bothhavea standarddisplacementofaround 50,000tonsandconventionalpropulsionsystems.

Compared with its two predecessors,theFujian ismuchbigger and heavier, and has a larger flight deck and smaller superstructure.

TheLiaoning underwent10sea trials before going into service, andtheShandong conductednine beforeitscommissioning.

DING ZIYU / FOR CHINA DAILY Left: The superstructure on the aircraft carrier CNS Fujian. LI TANG / FOR CHINA DAILY Right: CNS Fujian during its maiden sea trial, which tested the carrier’s propulsion and electric power systems.