Without satellite images, the 200 by 40 meter vessel might have gone unnoticed. In October, The War Zone media teams were informed of the existence of a huge boat in the port of Guangzhou, China. The images seen from the sky intrigued them. For specialists in weapons and warships, the building resembles an aircraft carrier or an amphibious assault ship – of which China already has several, including the Hainanwhich was exhibited for five days in Hong Kong at the end of November, as reported by BFMTV.
On December 2, The War Zone managed to obtain new images of the ship. Clearer, and taken from other points of view during what appear to be the boat's first navigation tests, they allow experts to advance further on its nature. A landing strip is clearly visible, suggesting that the bridge will act as an aircraft carrier. No element, however, confirms the possible amphibious nature of the boat.
A typical structure of aircraft carriers
On satellite photos of this immense boat, like those captured by anonymous people and published on X (formerly Twitter), we can clearly see three distinct structures. The one near the bow has a deck and a very conventional mast. A larger structure, in the center of the boat, appears to be made of a control tower to manage arriving planes. The third tower, near the stern, houses the exhaust line.
For The War Zone, the boat, although still very mysterious in its potential uses, is especially impressive because of the speed at which it was built. The first traces of a shipyard in the port of Guangzhou were detected in mid-May 2024. Between September and October, the first tests were carried out on the ship.
Who are the principals of this ship project?
There is still one major element that escapes observers around this boat. No one knows whether it is a ship ordered by the Chinese army for its own use or a private project initiated by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the national naval enterprise. The absence of visible military signs on the hull tends to tip the scales towards the private project.
But the appearance of the boat still leaves one wondering. Everything suggests that it was built to work with helicopters and armed drones. It is therefore not impossible that the army will still call on its services, even if it is not directly instigator of the project. In the event of armed actions in the Pacific, particularly around Taiwan, this type of aircraft carrier could be particularly useful to Beijing.
