Domestically Produced Aircraft Carrier Commissioned into Chinese Navy

China's first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Shandong (hull 17), was delivered and commissioned to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy (PLA-N) on Tuesday in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province.

Overseen by President Xi Jinping, the aircraft carrier received a grand commissioning ceremony at a naval base in Sanya.

Construction of China's first domestically built aircraft carrier the Shandong, began in November 2013. It was launched in April 2017 at the Dalian Shipyard, Northeast China's Liaoning Province.

In May 2018, the ship set out for its first sea trial. It conducted eight more sea trials, with the ninth one in November this year that saw the warship leaving Dalian, heading south, passing through the Taiwan Straits, entered the South China Sea, and finally arrived in Sanya, its mother base.

Having a displacement of around 40,000-60,000 tons and using a ski-jump flight deck, the conventional-powered Shandong is equipped with advanced electronic devices and control and command system, and built with an optimized superstructure and internal layout, Global Times said.

The new carrier can carry 36 J-15 fighter jets, compared to 24 of the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier.

The Shandong comes a poor second in comparison with the US Navy’s John. F. Kennedy aircraft carrier which took to the water earlier this week and will be inducted in to the US Navy 2-3 years later.