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 successfully 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 increase the time of availability on the combat zone.
The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrying cruiser, Soviet designation Project 1143.5, is a class of aircraft carriers operated by the Russian and Chinese navies. Originally designed for the Soviet Navy, the Kuznetsov-class ships use a ski-jump to launch high-performance conventional aircraft in a STOBAR configuration. The design represented a major advance in Soviet fleet aviation over the Kiev-class carriers, which could only launch VSTOL aircraft. The Soviet Union's classification for the class was as a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser, which permits the ships to transit the Turkish Straits without violating the Montreux Convention. However, the Chinese variants are classified as aircraft carriers.
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 925 Dajiang with NATO reporting name Dajiang, or 大江 in Chinese, meaning Great River, is a type of naval auxiliary ship belonging to the People's Republic of China. Each ship is usually equipped with up to two Type 7103 DSRV class Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs). The ship is designed to replace the first People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) submarine tender PLANS Mount Tai, and the lead ship of the Dajiang class is the Changxingdao. The Type 925 is a submarine tender that can also be used as a submarine rescue ship, and hence, it is designated as a submarine support ship by Chinese.
The Type 909 weapon trial ship and its successor Type 909A Dahua class are Chinese weapon trials ships developed for its People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). A total of three ships have entered service as of mid-2014.
Torpedo trials craft are primarily naval auxiliaries used by navies for the development of new naval torpedoes and during practise firings. These craft are designed to track and monitor the torpedo and to be able to locate and retrieve the spent torpedo for analysis, and refurbishment for reuse. Torpedo trials craft had their greatest use during the years around World War II when the torpedo was the primary anti-ship weapon of submarines, destroyers and naval aircraft.
8 cubic meter class dredger is a class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The complete name of the class is 8 cubic meter grab dredger, and it can also be used as a crane ship, capable of lifting a maximum of a hundred ton for each single lift. In 1984, PLAN Equipment and Technology department signed a contract with East Sea Shipyard to build 8 cubic meter class dredger / crane ship designed to meet requirements of Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK). The general designers were Mr. Xun Zhi-Liang (荀志亮) and Mr. Zhang Lin-Sheng (张林生). Construction began in December 1984, and after completion, the ship sailed to Qingdao in June 1985 for further sea trials, which were completed successfully. The following month, the ship was handed over to PLAN.
400-ton class ammunition ship is a class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The exact type of this class remain unknown as of 2015, because no official information has been released, despite the ships have already been in service around a decade. 400-ton class is the most commonly referred term when describe these ships 400-ton class ammo ship in PLAN service is designated by a combination of an alphabet followed by three-digit number. The alphabet is Y, the abbreviation of Yun, which is for the Chinese character (运), meaning transport. However, the pennant number may have changed due to the change of Chinese naval ships naming convention.
Beiqi 384 class crane ship is a class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.
Beijun 204 class dredger is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. In comparison to other dredger in Chinese military service, Beijun 204 class is also capable of performing floating pile driver missions with two piles it is equipped with, one on each side of the ship.
Dongjun 417 class dredger is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Dongjun 417 class is a bucket dredger.
Dongjun 433 class dredger is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Dongjun 434 is a bucket wheel dredger.
Dongjun 434 class dredger is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Dongjun 434 is one of the few Chinese naval ships made by western countries, and it is built by DEMAG.
Donggong 429 class floating pile driver is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.
Nangong 681 class floating pile driver is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.
The Dongxiu 912 class repair dry dock is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Dongxiu 912 class repair dry dock is specifically developed to maintain / repair Type 037 corvette.
The Dongbo 39 class barge is a little known class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of the mid-2010s.
Beituo 699 class tug is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s. Type 699 is a design of a single deck with three levels of superstructure, and its bulwark is stepped, with the elevated portion covering the frontal half of the first level of the superstructure.
Beituo 702 class tug is a class of little known naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The name of this class is after the first unit commissioned, with the exact type still remains unknown, and only a single unit of this class have been confirmed in active service as of mid-2010s.
Haixiu 121 class tug is a class of naval auxiliary ship currently in service with the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The class is named after the first unit commissioned, and only a single unit of this class is known to be in active service.
People's Liberation Army Navy 