China’s new aircraft carrier might take to the sea for the first time this week.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLA Navy) first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, the Type 001A Shandong (CV-17), could take to the sea for the first time this week as final preparations for the ship’s sea trials are underway at the at the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) shipyard in China’s Liaoning Province.
A source revealed that the carrier recently conducted a main engine run indicating that sea trials were about to start, the South China Morning Post reports. Initial reports that the carrier would take to the sea already on April 23 to coincide with the PLA Navy’s 69th anniversary, however, proved incorrect. The Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration announced on April 20 that it requested three areas in the northeastern Bohai and Yellow Sea to be cordoned off for PLA Navy activities from April 20 to 28 pointing to the possibility of sea trials later this week.
