In May, we posted about what appears to be the deck of an aircraft carrier built onto the top of a government building in China (China takes a Great Leap Forward in the Concrete Carrier Arms Race.)  Some speculated that it was for pilot training for a then unannounced Chinese aircraft carrier, the first in their fleet. Then in June, Gen Chen Bingde, head of China’s General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army confirmed that China’s first aircraft carrier is under construction.  Today the carrier to be named, Shi Lang, sailed on sea trials.   The Shi Lang is not, however, a new ship.

The carrier started out as the Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, whose keel was laid in 1985, but never completed.  Construction was stopped in 1992. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, ownership was transferred to the Ukraine. The ship was laid up without engines, most machinery, electronics and a rudder. It was put for auction in 1998, when it was purchased by a Chong Lot Travel Agency for $20 million, with the stated intention that the ship would become a casino in Macau.

The tow from the Black Sea to China was eventful. Initially, Turkey refused transit through the  Bosphorus strait. The ship was towed in circles in the Black Sea for 16 months while negotiations took place.  Finally on November 1, 2001, the Varyag was towed through the strait with twenty-seven escort vessels, including eleven tug boats and three pilot boats.  Three days later the ship was caught in a force 9 gale and broke her tow line. With the assistant of several tugs and rescue vessels the tow was re-established on November 7, after the death of one of the tugs’ crew.  The Varyag arrived at Dalian Shipyard in northeastern China on March 3, 2002.

Chong Lot Travel Agency is considered to be a front company for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Despite continued claims that the ship was being converted to a casino, the intention to finish it as an aircraft carrier was often referred to as the “China’s worst kept secret.”

It appears that the Shi Lang will not be the only Chinese aircraft carrier. It was recently reported that 100,000 Chinese shipyard workers have been recruited for the construction of the first Chinese domestically built carrier at Jiangnan Shipyard on Changxing Island just north of Shanghai.