MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 China has launched its second\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but its first locally built\u00a0\u2014\u00a0aircraft carrier, just days after being floated off its dry dock, even as the country continues development work on other aspects of its carrier program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ceremony to launch the Type 001A carrier took place Wednesday morning, local time, at the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation’s shipyard at Dalian, Liaoning province, in northern China where the ship has been under construction since 2013. It also comes just days after the 68th anniversary of the founding of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The official news website of China’s People’s Liberation Army said Gen. Fan Changlong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended the ceremony, where he was joined by PLAN commander Vice Adm. Shen Jinlong, PLAN Political Commissar Adm. Miao Hua and\u00a0Hu Wenming,\u00a0the shipyard’s president.
The carrier, which is rumored but not confirmed to be named Shandong, has now been moved from its dry dock to the adjacent berth, where it will undergo final construction, fitting out and builder’s trials before being commissioned into the PLAN, which is expected to occur sometime in 2019.