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Two Chinese aircraft carriers were pictured docked at the same South China Sea naval base on Tuesday.
Open-source satellite imagery showed that CNS Liaoning and CNS Shandong, China's first and second operational aircraft carriers, were pier-side at Sanya naval base on China's southern island of Hainan.
This was the first time the ships had been seen moored together, said Alex Luck, an Australia-based maritime security analyst. The Shandong is based in Sanya, while the Liaoning is home ported at Qingdao, a city in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.
China has launched three aircraft carriers, of which the third and most advanced, CNS Fujian, remained pier-side at Shanghai's Jiangnan Shipyard as of October 4, according to satellite imagery. The yet-to-be-commissioned warship conducted sea trials last month.
The recent movement of the 66,000-ton Liaoning has caught the attention of some military observers. It was spotted transiting southward from the East China Sea to the Philippine Sea from September 17 to 18, according to a report from the Japanese Defense Ministry.
From September 20 to October 1, the Liaoning conducted flight operations with carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters in the waters east of the Philippines and west of Guam. The closest distance between it and the U.S.' westernmost territory was just 559 miles.
The Chinese aircraft carrier then left the Philippine Sea and transited southwestward in the waters southeast of the Philippines, heading toward the South China Sea, where Beijing has territorial disputes with Manila.
The Liaoning did not sail northward for the return journey to Qingdao and its movements were unknown until the latest satellite imagery was published. Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email.
It was not immediately clear how long the Liaoning would remain in Hainan or whether it would conduct dual carrier operations with the 70,000-ton Shandong. The latter is China's first domestically built aircraft carrier and the second in service with the Chinese navy.
The Chinese military reported on September 27 that the Shandong had returned to Sanya following exercises in the South China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean.
Of the three Chinese carriers, both the Liaoning and the Shandong use a ski-jump ramp for aircraft takeoffs. The Fujian has catapults that enable it to launch larger fixed-wing aircraft.
The United States has the largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world, with 11 ships in service. They are all 100,000 tons and powered by nuclear reactors, as well as equipped with catapults. All Chinese aircraft carriers are conventionally powered.
About the writer
Ryan Chan is a Newsweek reporter based in Hong Kong, where he previously had over a decade of experience at ... Read more