China has launched a mysterious ship that resembles an aircraft carrier in its design. A video of the ship appeared in social networks, reports the War Zone, writes UNN.
Details
It is noted that the ship now has various commercial rather than military markings and is not similar to any other established class of ships of the Chinese navy. There is still the possibility that it may be the first of its kind supposedly civilian research ship.
As the publication notes, attention is drawn to one feature in its design, namely, three superstructures that are characteristic of aircraft carriers. Although traditionally there are one or two such "islands" on ships of this class, there are three of them on a new ship. And it is on the third design that chimneys are brought out, which is a rather atypical solution. Also on the ship you can see the division into canvas and hangar decks, and this is a sign of an aircraft carrier.
The name and characteristics of the new Chinese ship, as well as its actual functionality and purpose are still unknown. So now information about it is based only on assumptions,
The launch of the vessel took place around September-October of this year, which is confirmed by satellite images. it is noteworthy that an emblem can be seen on it, which indicates that it belongs to the CSSC (China State Shipbuilding Corporation). It is possible that the mysterious ship may be some kind of On-Demand training, testing and/or demonstration platform that CSSC can use to test other future projects.
The publication also notes that in 2022, the Chinese government ordered the development of a new landing ship, which should be equipped with a flight deck and a camera-dock for the release and reception of landing boats. In the development requirements, there was a possibility of "dual" use. The hull length stated in the requirements was 200 meters, the flight deck width was 25 meters, full water substitution was 15 thousand tons, the range was 5 thousand nautical miles and the autonomy was 40 days.