Ex -Varyag
The ex-Varyag was acquired by China from Ukraine without engines, and must be outfitted with new engines before going out to sea. China lacks indigenous steam turbine or gas turbine engine capabilities, and absent purchase of such engines from foreign sources, the ex-Varyag would have to be equiped with marine diesel engines. Such engines are larger than turbine engines, so the ex-Varyag outfitted with marine diesel engines would be underpowered relative to the original design, and consequently slower than the original design. With a best speed in the neighborhood perhaps 20 knots [the standard speed for American amphibious ships], ex-Varyag would be considerably slower than the 30-knot standard for American aircraft carriers and escort ships. As such, ex-Varyag would seem far more suited as an aviation training ship than as a operational tactical combat unit, though it might have some combat utility under some circumstances.
Carriers can be built rather quickly, given enough money, but experienced carrier crews cannot. Continuous training is required to operate a carrier safely. Flight deck operations are a series of precise movements, and structured catapult and landing area procedures. Everything from ordinance handling to aircraft maintenance procedures differe from those for land based aircraft. During the most hazardous phase of both fixed-wing and helicopter flight operations and the launching and recovery of these aircraft, these personnel are exposed to hazards of jet intake, jet blast and propeller/rotor wash, highspeed propellers and rotors, possible arresting cable separations, and the obvious hazards associated with aircraft crashes and fires on confined flight decks at sea. Prolonged launch (takeoff) and recovery (landing) cycles may last greater than 24 consecutive hours in duration and may be accomplished in an all-weather, high paced environment, interrupted only by short periods of rest and nourishment.
Ukraine halted construction on the ex-Varyag in 1992, when it was about 70 percent complete but without many electrical systems, no engines and no weapons. Left exposed to the elements, it quickly began to deteriorate. In 1992 China was reported to have opened discussions with Ukraine to purchase of the Varyag, a 67,500-ton Kuznetsov-class attack aircraft carrier about two-thirds complete and docked at the Black Sea shipyard of Nikolayev. In mid-1992 China's Science Academy sent 15 naval specialists to Ukraine for two months to conduct a feasibility study on the matter. After hearing their report, the Central Military Commission decided to go ahead with the plan and buy a carrier, aircraft and electronic equipment by 1994. These negotiations were ultimately fruitless, after Japan and the United States put pressure on Ukraine to pull out of the deal.
Transition via the Bosphorus
In early 1998 a Macau-based company, Chin Lot Tourist and Amusement Agency bought the Varyagfor $20 million dollars, with the announced intent of turning it into a floating amusement park and gambling casino in Macau. The contract with Ukraine stipulated that the buyer could not use the carrier for military purposes, and that any equipment that could be used to build other warships would be removed from the craft. In 1999 a respected Hong Kong periodical reported that British and French companies had made Beijing an offer to equip the Varyag with many of the systems needed to make it operational.
A tugboat from International Transport Contractors (ITC), towed the Varyag out into the Black Sea in June 2000. For more than than a year thereafter circled the Black Sea, because the Turkish authorities said it is too big to be towed through the narrow straits into the Mediterranean. The Turkish authorities argued that, together with its tugs, the Varyag would be more than 550m long and would have difficulty making the 15 changes of course required to navigate the straits. By September 2001 the ship had been marooned in the Black Sea for 13 months waiting to be towed to Macau. In October, Turkey allowed the decommissioned aircraft carrier to sail through its congested waterway after China pledged to minimize potential risks and offered guarantees that it would compensate Ankara for any possible damages. On 01 November 2001 ex-Varyag entered Turkish territorial waters at 0700. Here, four tugboats which played an active role in Varyag's passage through the straits threw rope to the floating vessel. On November 4, 2001 ex-Varyag was brought back under control after breaking loose of its tugboats in the Aegean in strong winds. In March 2002 the Varyag was towed to the Chinese port of Dalian.
Chong Lot
Chong Lot was a subsidary a Hong Kong firm called Chinluck (Holding). Chong Lot was also connected to another Hong Kong company, Goldspot Investments Ltd. All three firms had connections with former People's Liberation Army officials. Directors of Chinluck were reported to have ties to the Chinese Navy, though Chinluck denied any People's Liberation Army involvement in the sale of the Varyag. Three of the five directors of Chinluck Holding, the parent company of Chong Lot, were Chinese nationals from Shandong, which happens to be the home of the Chinese Navy's North sea fleet. Chinluck (Holding) Co. Ltd. did not have any public presence, and Chong Lot carried a non-existent address in Macau.
In 2003 Sky Cruise International Company Limited sought the winding up of Chinluck (Holdings) Company Limited. The petition was filed on 16 August 2003, and was heard before the High Court of Hong Kong on 12 November 2003, at 9:30 in the morning. Sky Cruise held its registered office at 13th Floor, Bel Trade Commercial Building, 1-3 Burrows Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong. On 4 April 2003, Zhong Nan Group (Hong Kong) Investments Ltd filed suit against Chinluck (Holdings) Co Ltd to recover USD 1,928,200.
However, the the Chinluck Group remained active. On 10 March 2005, Xinhuanet quoted Cheng Zhen Shu, who was chairman of the Chinluck Group Ltd in Hong Kong, as saying "The adoption of the anti-secession law and mighty military strengthen will deter 'Taiwan independence' elements from pursuing illegal activities."
The carrier was surrounded with heavy security in Dalian, which bars civilian access. Police flank the shipyard entrance. This fueled speculation that theVaryag was being used by the Chinese military. It was not evident that China could actually turn Varyag into an active military warship, since she was badly deteriorated.
Shi Lang: Technical Aspects
Around 70 percent complete, Varyag displaces about 33,600 tons [versus the 67,000-ton design displacement]. The steam turbines that were to have powered Varyag had not been installed by the Ukrainian state-run Generating Systems of Crimea prior to sale. Electronics were either never fitted or removed before she was sold.
In May 2005 the Varyag reportedly entered the dry dock near its mooring in Dailan harbor. One picture from the side has been seen in multiple forms and an aerial shot was undoubtably fabricated. The ship was said to have emerged from the dry dock in its current paint scheme, a standard gray used by the PLAN. That the ship was only said to have entered the dry dock in May and was out by August 2005, a time span of around 3 months and a third of the time full operational US carriers usually spend in dry dock for repairs and refit called the speculation into question. That the ship continued to ride high at its morrings in Dailan harbor as of 2007, suggesting that reports of refitting and installation of equipment were at least grossly exaggerated.
Subsequent unconfirmed reports followed suggesting that the Varyag could be being readied for operational use, for use as a training carrier, or perhaps most probable of the possibilities, to be brought to some limited capability in time for the Olympic Games in 2008 as a propoganda tool.
As of June 2008 the newest pictures of the Varyag showed her with additional new paint, but a lack of any visible activity. In late Arpil, 2009, the Varyag was moved from the pier in Dalian, to a dry dock about two miles distant, apparently in order to install engines and other heavy equipment.
Varyag's island was rebuilt in dry dock in 2009 and early 2010, with what appeared to be new PAR (Phased Array Radar) support structure. Vayrag was out of dry dock in March 2010. Shi Lang's early years at sea will probably be devoted to training.
Jane's Fighting Ships states that Varyag may have been named Shi Lang (hull No. 83), a name reported in 2008. In the summer of 2007, it was commissioned into the PLAN. There is no corresponding official statement.
Shi Lang: Entymology
Shi Lang (1621-96) conquered Taiwan for the Kangxi emperor in 1683, previous to which it was under the sway of a Chinese chief named Koxinga. Admiral Shi Lang served as commander-in-chief of the Qing fleet of 300 warships and 20000 troops. In the 1662-64 period, the Qing government, in order to realize national reunification, had conducted peace talks 10 times over a period of 22 years. However, due to neglect of the construction and use of naval force and under the circumstance of the lack of necessary military pressure and effective military attacking capability, the first nine peace talks all ended in failures.
In 1683, Shi Lang, the navy military governor of Fujian, led more than 20,000-men to wipe out the bandits in Taiwan by employing the strategy for the use of force of "first taking Penghu and then Taiwan" and "resending invitation to surrender in annihilation". The Manchus took possession of the island and made it a district of Fukien Province, which it remained until ceded to the Japanese in 1895. Shi Lang's military and social influence carried on growing in the decade after his conquest of Taiwan. Shi Lang in his Memorial to the Emperor on Taiwan Issue analyzed the geographical situation of Taiwan, emphasized its strategic importance to the security of the southeast coast and the whole country and expressed his determination to safeguard it and keep it within the territory of China.
References
1. Jane's Defence Weekly
2. International Crisis Group
3. Institute of Strategic Studies
4. Wikipedia
5. Reuters
6. CIA World Fact Book
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