Chinese navy commissions its second aircraft carrier

China’s second aircraft carrier was commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) on 17 December in a ceremony held at the Sanya-Yulin naval base on Hainan Island, and was given the name Shandong with pennant number 17.

A screen grab of CCTV-13 video footage of the commissioning ceremony of Shandong: the PLAN’s second aircraft carrier. The platform was commissioned into the Chinese navy on 17 December at the Sanya-Yulin naval base on Hainan Island. (Via CCTV-13)

The ceremony was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who presented the PLA flag and naming certificate to the ship’s captain and political commissar, reflecting the significance with which the entry into service of China’s first wholly domestically built aircraft carrier is viewed.

The carrier’s base-port of Sanya-Yulin is on the northern shores of the South China Sea, which gives a pointer to where the carrier is likely to operate in the immediate future. Although it will be geographically co-located with the naval forces of the Southern Theatre Command (South Sea Fleet), the carrier may be under direct command of the Central Military Commission because of its perceived strategic value.

A screen grab of CCTV-13 video footage showing the commissioning ceremony of Shandong, the PLAN’s second aircraft carrier, on 17 December at the Sanya-Yulin naval base on Hainan Island. The carrier was built to broadly the same design as the PLAN’s first carrier, Liaoning, which was formerly the Kuznetsov-class carrier Varyag. (Via CCTV-13)

Shandong