China launches 2nd aircraft carrier

[Oxidant]

China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, formally named the Shandong, was launched on Wednesday in the latest display of Beijing’s growing naval power.

The carrier was released into open water from a shipyard in the port of Dalian, northeastern Liaoning province, on Wednesday morning as a bottle of champagne was popped and the national anthem played in the background.

The launch came three days after the 68th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy on Sunday, and against the backdrop of a rising China seeking to project its influence over the regional maritime security pattern.

The announcement of the launch on China’s official media sparked patriotic discussion in China’s online community.

“It’s a symbol of China’s technological power, industrial capability and overall strength,” an internet user wrote on Weibo, the country’s version of Twitter.

Another internet user referred to China’s humiliation in the late 19th century when it was defeated by the Japanese navy, expressing delight that “a great country like China has finally got its own big weapon”.

The ceremony to launch the Shandong was chaired by Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission.

President Xi Jinping, who is the commission’s chairman and hence the country’s top military leader, was not present.

The carrier, which had earlier been temporarily named the Type 001A, is China’s second after the Liaoning, a refitted former Soviet Union-made carrier that was put into commission in the PLA Navy in 2012.

The carrier, 315 metres long and 75 metres wide, has a cruising speed of 31 knots and a displacement of 70,000 tonnes.

It is slightly larger than the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, which was refurbished from the semi-completed Soviet carrier Varyag, which Beijing bought from a Ukrainian shipyard in 1998.

China started developing the Shandong in November 2013, and building it in the dock in March 2015.

Even though its layout is almost the same as the Liaoning, the Shandong features new equipment and a more advanced operational concept, including a bigger hangar to carry more J-15 fighter jets and more space on deck for helicopters and other aircraft.

More in the link http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies ... t-aircraft

[Oxidant]

Future aircraft carrier plans by the Chinese navy.

[Oxidant]

[bumps]

We should gave good relationship with China.

We might buy it in the future

[gurey25]

This is just Chinas equivalent of buying a yacht so that it can show of to the members of the new country club it is joining.
In this case the exclusive club of countries that operate an aircraft carrier.

The carrier is obsolete just like the battleship before its time has come.
To be honest its time came in the mid 70's when antiship missiles were perfected.

Carriers are good for showing off, and for gunboat diplomacy but usually for bullying third world countries that cannot afford decent anti-ship missiles in large quantities , and for bombing insurgents and "terrorists".

You do not try to use carriers against your peers or near peers , because you will suffer the embarrassment of watching it sink.

Why do you think the US keeps its carrier groups so far away from Chinas coast, and moving them further and further away.


instead of building a fancy yacht to show of,
they should have built an updated version of the Soviet/Russian Kiev class, which is a combination of a missile cruiser and aircraft carrier.

[gegiroor]

An aircraft carrier is a waste of money. A submarine launched, anti-ship, ballistic missile can easily take it down. Even land-based anti-ship missiles can easily rip it apart.

Once a nation develops a nuclear-powered submarine, that is when they really feel secure, as it affords them a second strike capability.