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
Old Salt Blog
a virtual port of call for all those who love the sea , hosted by nautical novelist Rick Spilman
Its an old Russian carrier, they sold it to the Ukraine and they dumped, I mean sold it to China.
China Shows Off an Aircraft Carrier but Experts Are Skeptical
The mark “16” emblazoned on the carrier’s side indicates that it is limited to training, Chinese and other military experts said. China does not have planes capable of landing on the carrier and so far training for such landings has been carried out on land, they said. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/world/asia/china-shows-off-an-aircraft-carrier-but-experts-are-skeptical.html?_r=0