After ten sea trials and over 25 years of construction and refitting, China has put its first aircraft carrier into service.  Long rumored to be named Shi Lang, the carrier has instead been named Liaoning, after the province where it was rebuilt and refitted.  The ship started out as the Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, whose keel was laid in 1985, but was never completed. Construction 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 Varyag arrived at Dalian Shipyard in northeastern China on March 3, 2002.  The Chinese military finally confirmed in June 2011 that the ship was being refitted to serve as the nation’s first aircraft carrier.  See our previous post – From Varyag to Shi Lang – the Long Strange Voyage of China’s New Twenty Year Old Aircraft Carrier

China’s first aircraft carrier enters service