China’s Liaoning tops the list of the world’s worst active aircraft carriers.
A few days ago, the Liaoning aircraft carrier fleet went south to show off its force in the western Pacific Ocean, but after being attacked by U.S. warships, it stayed in place off Hainan Island for unknown reasons. “The Liaoning ship has become a “punching bag” for the U.S. military. As more scandals came to light, netizens ridiculed the Liaoning as a “naked” ship at sea.
In early April, the Liaoning led a number of warships to break through the first island chain and sail from the Miyako Strait to the South China Sea via the Pacific Ocean for a practice run. At the same time, the U.S. destroyer USS Muscatine sailed from the waters near the mouth of the Yangtze River to monitor the Liaoning’s southward progress.
The aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt and the F-35C amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island met in the South China Sea for a military exercise intended to deter the Chinese Communist Party. After that, the U.S. destroyer USS McCain crossed the Taiwan Strait, and two U.S. destroyers responded in time in Taiwan waters, one east and one west, heating up the situation in the Taiwan Strait.
The USS Roosevelt and USS Makin Island sailed to the Taiwan Strait after a drill in the South China Sea. “The Liaoning ship ended the drill hastily and headed north. Some military experts teased that the Liaoning was worried that the Roosevelt carrier had copied her back and fled quickly like a bird of prey.
On April 12, a satellite photo circulated on the Internet showing a formation of the Liaoning aircraft carrier in place off Hainan Island, about 290 kilometers from Sanya port, has raised concerns.
In this regard, Taiwan military commentator Qi Leyi said, if it is a mechanical solid barrier will be embarrassing! The satellite photo, “Liaoning” south of the distance of more than 100 kilometers, there seems to be a 052D missile destroyer. Then it is possible that the 052D formation is testing the maximum effective range of regional air defense, but that should also be carried out in the march, fixed point does not move quite abnormal.
Taiwan military expert Wu Mingjie commented that the “Liaoning” has been launched for more than 30 years, an important source of power to rely on the ship about 8 old steam boilers burning heavy oil, launch voyage to start at least 10 hours of hot engine, long days of operation of its power system is indeed a risk, the possibility of failure, but also does not exclude in this area to carry the ship’s aircraft J- 15 takeoff and landing training.
According to “Mind”, although the Chinese Communist Party has been sharpening its knives in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, its navy is said to be large in size but disastrous in strength. As time goes by, more and more U.S. warships are arriving to “watch” the Liaoning ship, which is staying put. The netizens laughed and said that the Liaoning ship has become a Netflix spot.
A Twitter account named “shiwenye3” shared a high-definition picture and a video of the Liaoning ship. The video captures the entire landing of the Liaoning aircraft carrier by Chinese J-15 fighter jets.
Dr. Bo, a Twitter user who follows military topics, believes that the fact that the Liaoning’s takeoff and landing was filmed in its entirety shows that the Communist forces are incapable of expelling the aircraft.
In addition to the full video, two photos widely reprinted online show that the Liaoning was not only monitored by U.S. forces during its stay at sea, but also accompanied by Japanese frigates in parallel.
One of the photos shows a Japanese frigate (also known as a destroyer) in front of the Liaoning. According to Japanese media, the photo speculates that the frigate may be Murayu or Takanami class frigate.
“The Japanese frigate has been following the Liaoning ship in parallel while it is at sea. (Web Screenshot)
Another photo shows the captain of the USS Mustin, a Burke-class missile destroyer of the U.S. 7th Fleet, “crossing his legs” to monitor the Liaoning in the Philippine Sea on April 4. This photo was released by the U.S. Navy Network.
The USS Mustin and the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning are seen in close proximity to each other. (Photo taken from U.S. Navy website)
Netizens lamented that the first Chinese aircraft carrier formation was running naked: “Not only was it surrounded by the US military at close range, but it was also followed by the US destroyer and Japanese destroyer in parallel.
A military expert posted that the Liaoning has no Chinese frigates or carrier aircraft in the photo, and there is no way to stop the U.S. ship from approaching, which means the basic skills of the fleet formation are unbeatable. The U.S. military released the photo in mockery of the Liaoning ship “you are too bad”. Some mainland netizens believe the U.S. military is deliberately humiliating and mocking the Liaoning.
Liaoning tops the list of the world’s worst active aircraft carriers
“The Liaoning is the first aircraft carrier of the Chinese Communist Navy, formerly known as the Varyag, a Soviet aircraft carrier under construction in Ukraine.
In 1999, a Hong Kong businessman and Xu Zengping, a former basketball star in the Chinese Communist army, purchased the Varyag. They claimed at the time that they planned to build it as a maritime casino for Macau, but it was later given to the Chinese Communist Party, which towed it to the Dalian shipyard in 2002 for renovation, eventually putting it into service in 2012.
On Christmas Eve 2016, the first Chinese aircraft carrier formation, including the Liaoning, went to the western Pacific for its first offshore training.
Some foreign media analysis said that the first voyage of the Chinese carrier fleet exposed many shortcomings. The first is that it is more defensive than offensive, the second is that the air-sea joint warfare system is not mature, and the third is that the Liaoning and the escort vessels are still in the process of integration.
Macau’s senior military researcher Huang Dong also said at the time that the Liaoning has at least three major fatal flaws: the ship’s hull is halfway through its life; there is a high risk of the hull falling apart; and the ship’s carrier aircraft is slow to form a combat capability.
In 2017, when the Liaoning went around the eastern waters of Taiwan to show off its force, the Taiwanese army grasped six major weaknesses, including its lack of night combat capability, limited operational capacity, limited fuel and ammunition carrying, easy chipping of the steel plates, unreasonable structure and short time for resupply.
External assessments suggest that the Liaoning aircraft carrier is still far from truly forming a combat capability due to its own multiple fatal flaws. The U.S. Business Insider website selected the world’s worst in-service aircraft carriers in September 2018, with the Liaoning topping the list.
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