Shandong, China’s 1st homemade aircraft carrier, enters service

CHINA commissioned its first domestically built aircraft carrier into service yesterday at a naval port in Sanya, south China’s Hainan Province.

President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning ceremony. The new aircraft carrier, named the Shandong, after the province in east China, was delivered to the People’s Liberation Army Navy and placed in active service.

China has another carrier, the Liaoning, a refitted vessel, the former Soviet navy’s unfinished Varyag, which was bought from Ukraine in 1998 as an empty shell. It went into service in 2012.

Xi presented a PLA flag and the naming certificate to the captain and political commissar of the Shandong, respectively, and posed for a group photo with them during the ceremony.

Later, Xi boarded the Shandong and reviewed the guards of honor. He also inspected the onboard equipment and asked about the work and life of carrier-based aircraft pilots.

On the bridge of the Shandong, Xi greeted the officers and soldiers and signed his name in the log. The Chinese president also met with representatives of the aircraft carrier unit and the manufacturer at the dock.

Commending China’s achievements in aircraft carrier construction, Xi encouraged them to continue their efforts to make new contributions in the service of the Party and the people.

Approved by the Central Military Commission, the Shandong was given the hull number 17.

The name, the Shandong, was chosen because the production base for the aircraft carrier was located in the eastern province, Global Times reported.

Chinese navy vessels are named after provinces and municipalities, the Global Times reported yesterday.

Shandong, a major coastal province, sits perfectly as the name for China’s second aircraft carrier, Li Jie, a military expert, told the newspaper.

China’s two carriers epitomize its growing military prowess, Li said.

Work on China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier began in November 2013. It hit the waters in April 2017 at the Dalian Shipyard in northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

In May 2018, the ship set out for its first sea trial. It conducted eight sea trials. During the ninth trial in November, the carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait, entered the South China Sea before docking at its base in Sanya.

According to information published by the Defense Ministry, the Shandong displaces 50,000 metric tons of water. It has conventional propulsion systems and uses a ramp to launch J-15 fighter jets.

The navy base in Sanya can facilitate the berthing of large naval vessels, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Geng Yansheng, the former spokesperson of the Defense Ministry, said China needed to construct and upgrade its military facilities, including the naval base.

The Shandong was commissioned on December 17, which coincides with its hull number.

Another coincidence pointed out by military buffs was that the North Sea Fleet in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a modern naval unit comprising of German and British vessels, was established on December 17, 1888.

However, it was destroyed during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).

(Shanghai Daily/Xinhua)