An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increases the time of availability on the combat zone.
The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army, and the largest navy per number of ships in the world.
The East Sea Fleet, concurrently the Eastern Theater Command Navy (东部战区海军), is one of the three fleets of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army Navy. Responsible for the East China Sea, the fleet provides naval forces to the Eastern Theater Command.
The South Sea Fleet, concurrently the Southern Theater Command Navy (南部战区海军), is one of the three fleets of the Chinese Communist Party's People's Liberation Army Navy. Responsible for South China Sea, the fleet provides naval forces to the Southern Theater Command. The fleet is headquartered in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, China.
The People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force is the surface warfare branch of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), consisting of all surface vessels in operational service with the PLAN. The PLAN Surface Force operates 661 ships organized into three fleets: the North Sea Fleet, the East Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet.
The Type 071 is a class of Chinese amphibious transport dock ships in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The Type 071 provides the PLAN with capabilities and flexibility not found in its previous landing ships.
The Type 072 is a class of tank landing ship in the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Seven were built and began entering service by the early-1980s. They replaced American-built LSTs from the Second World War.
The Type 072II landing ship are large landing ships built by Shanghai-based Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard as a successor to the Type 072 landing ship. A total of four hulls have been delivered to the People's Liberation Army Navy since the early 1990s. The Type 072II is the PLA Navy's first amphibious warfare ship to have a flight deck for helicopter take-off/landing. There are three ships currently in People's Liberation Army service, all of which are deployed in East Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy. All active ships are built by China Shipbuilding Shipyard (中华造船厂) in Shanghai.
The Type 073 landing ship is a family of landing ships developed and operated by the People's Liberation Army Navy, it consists of several models. This article details the development of this class that begun in the 1960s. The most recent and modern model of the class is the Type 073A, which were built and commissioned in the 2000s.
Since the 1970s, China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has had ambitions to develop and operate aircraft carriers, and since 1985 has acquired four retired aircraft carriers for study; namely, the British-built Australian HMAS Melbourne and the ex-Soviet carriers Minsk, Kiev and Varyag. The Varyag later underwent an extensive refit to be converted into the Liaoning, China's first operational aircraft carrier, which also served as a basis for China's subsequent design iterations.
The Type 724 Landing Craft Air-Cushion (LCAC) is the first indigenous air cushion landing craft in operational use with People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and it origin dates all the way back in the early 1960s, when 7th Academy was assigned to lead the developmental work on air cushioned vehicles for a 10-year plan lasting from 1963 to 1972. Two projects developed from this research work, and Type 724 LCAC is the direct descendant of these two research projects.
The Type 056 corvette is a class of warship deployed by the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). They replace older patrol craft and some of the Type 053H frigates. The first Type 056 entered service in February 2013. An anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant, commonly known as Type 056A, has also entered service. Following construction of Aba in December 2019, China ceased building Type 056 corvettes to focus on procuring bigger warships for high sea missions. In 2021, the PLAN transferred all 22 Type 056 to the China Coast Guard while retaining the Type 056A.
Type 922 rescue and salvage ship is a series of rescue and salvage ships developed by China for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and after decades of service they still remain active in other Chinese governmental establishments.
Type 946 submarine rescue ship with NATO reporting name Dazhou class is a type of coastal submarine rescue ship developed by China for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). A development designated as Type 946A is also in service with PLAN.
The Type 079 landing ship was a class of landing ship medium (LSM) of the People's Liberation Army Navy. There are two subclasses of this type; 079I and 079II.
Ankang class ambulance craft is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The exact type still remains unknown, because the only official Chinese governmental information released on these crafts is that they are classified as fast ambulance craft, and has received NATO reporting name Ankang class, or 安康 in Chinese, meaning Well-Being. By Chinese classification, any naval vessel with displacement above a thousand ton is classified as ship / warship, and any naval vessel with displacement less than a thousand ton is classified as a boat / craft. Ankang class is the only boat / craft in the Chinese navy that is capable of hosting a helicopter, though it only has a landing pad, but not any hangar. A total of five units of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.
Haiyang Shan is a Type 072III-class landing ship of the East Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Chaganhu (967) is a Type 901 fast combat support ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy.
Hainan (31) is the lead ship of the Type 075 landing helicopter dock of the People's Liberation Army Navy. She was commissioned on 23 April 2021.
People's Liberation Army Navy 