Published : 17/12/2025

On 17 December 2019, China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier, the Shandong (山東艦), was formally commissioned into service.

The Shandong is a medium-sized aircraft carrier in the 40,000 to 60,000-tonne class. Its construction began in November 2013, and it was successfully commissioned in December 2019.

The successful construction of the Shandong signifies that China's independent design and construction of aircraft carriers has achieved fruitful results, making it one of the few countries in the world capable of building its own aircraft carriers.

Compared with China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning (遼寧艦), the domestically designed and built Shandong has improvements over the Liaoning in both equipment and operational performance.

For example, its hangar capacity, deck area, and space for carrier-based aircraft are all larger than those of the Liaoning, which enhances the Shandong's combat effectiveness.

Furthermore, in contrast to the Liaoning, which was refitted from an unfinished Soviet-era carrier, the Shandong was entirely completed by China from design to construction, with tens of millions of components all being domestically produced, achieving completely independent design, independent construction, and independent support systems.

This shows that China has fully mastered the capability to independently research, develop, and build aircraft carriers, and also reflects China's high-level scientific research capabilities and military strength.

With the Shandong commissioned into service alongside the Liaoning, China officially entered the "dual-carrier" era, greatly enhancing its maritime military strength.

With the capacity to venture east into the Western Pacific and west into the Indian Ocean, the Shandong can carry out continuous patrol missions. It comprehensively protects maritime rights and plays a positive role in maintaining China's national sovereignty.