China to Match US Aircraft Carrier Capacity

China has announced that it is constructing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the biggest ever to be indigenously-built, according to qianzahn.com.

With this move, China will match the aircraft carrier capacity of the US Navy.

The 110,000-ton super aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.

Currently, the US Navy disposes of 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which are the largest ships in the world. Each of them is 333 meters long, and their full-load displacement is over 100,000 tons.

For now, China has only one aircraft carrier named Liaoning with hull number (16).

The Liaoning was former Russian Navy’s aircraft carrier, known as Varyag, which China bought in 1998. She was commissioned into the Chinese Navy on September 25th, 2012.

China’s new warship will be a larger version of Liaoning.

The biggest, 110,000-ton, aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.

[mappress]
Naval Today Staff, December 23, 2013; Image: Flot