Work on main battleship for China’s new-generation aircraft carrier enters home stretch
The fit-out of the Type 055 destroyer has started at a Shanghai shipyard, with many more of the warships to come
Shanghai ship workers have started fitting out Asia’s most advanced and biggest destroyer as China assembles a battle fleet for its first home-grown aircraft carrier.
The PLA Daily reported on Friday that workers from Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard Group were installing equipment in the Type 055 destroyer.
The huge vessel, which was launched in June, will become the main battleship for the Type 001A aircraft carrier.
Military sources said the destroyer’s construction was running in parallel with that of the aircraft carrier, which was launched in April and has started sea trials. The carrier could go into service by the end of this year, according to state media reports.
“China now is building four Type 055 destroyers, with two designed to be ‘imperial bodyguards’ to the first home-grown carrier in high seas,” a military source said. “But China is going to build more of the destroyers to meet the navy’s increasing demand for modern warships.”
