NewChina gives rare glimpse into first aircraft carrier Liaoning’s home port in Shandong
China’s military has disclosed little-known details of its first aircraft carrier base in Shandong province, acknowledging the existence of nuclear weapon facilities at the naval base.
An article published on Tuesday on the website of the the China National Defence Daily – a newspaper run by the General Political Department of the People’s Liberation Army – gave a rare glimpse of the Qingdao home port of China’s first aircraft carrier Liaoning.
According to the report, which has since been removed from the website, the port occupies a water area of a few million square metres, with a maximum depth of more than 20 metres and a fairway that is several hundred metres wide. It is protected by a breakwater that extends almost 10,000 metres into the water.
The naval base, on the south side of the Shandong Peninsula, is home to the North Sea Fleet, which oversees waters surrounding Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The base is less than 2,000km from the US overseas naval base in Yokosuka, Japan.
The fuel used in one refuel for the carrier is enough for more than 100 off-road vehicles to run until they are scrapped
The base expands from the waterfront to the mountains across the road from the port, which houses large supplying facilities such as missile storehouses, chemical storehouses and armouries.
The missile storehouse is located in a cave deep in the mountain, at the end of a tunnel several hundred metres away from the entrance. The storage supplies ammunition for the carrier in training and combats in the future, the article said.