Aircraft Carrier - Phase 1 - Study Foreign Technology
1985 - HMAS Melbourne
In 1985 China purchased the 17,000-ton former Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne as scrap, and she was finally broken up in Dalian, China. According to some reports, as late as 1994 the ship was still in existence at Guangzhou, China, being studied by Chinese naval architects. The hulk had been stripped of all useful equipment prior to sale, but Australian Navy sources reportedly said that the Chinese were particularly interested in the ship's steam catapult, even requesting the operating manuals. It was said that a navy unit had built a simulated flying deck at its airport in northern China. The design of the Melbourne was taken for reference. Reportedly, the airborne troops of the navy used the deck to carry out numerous flying tests. The improved deck adopted the optical landing system designed and developed by China.
1995 - Empresa Nacional Bazan CTOL
In 1995 a Spanish firm, Empresa Nacional Bazan, was reported to have offered to build China two conventional takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) vessels, with the first to be delivered within five years and the second roughly three years later. While China was reported to have expressed an interest, a deal was not reached.
1995 - Clemenceau
In late 1995, France was reported to have offerred the retired aircraft carrier Clemenceau for free, provided that China bought radar and communications systems from French companies. Nothing came of the offer.
1998 - Minsk
In 1993 China began negotiations with Russia for the purchase of two Kiev-class 40,000-ton carriers (the Kiev and Minsk) and the still-incomplete Varyag, though initially with no results.
In 1998 the Minsk, a 40,000-ton Kiev-class VTOL aircraft carrier, was purchased from a South Korean shipbreaking company by the Minsk Aircraft Carrier Industry Company, a Chinese firm. The South Korean firm stripped the vessel of its armaments, engines, and communications suite and required that the vessel would not be used for military purposes. The Chinese company had the ship towed to Guangdong Province, where it planned to convert the ship into a floating museum. In September 2000 the ship was moved to Shenzhen to become part of a theme park called Minsk World.
1998 - Varyag
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.
In early 1998 a Macau-based company, Chin Lot Tourist and Amusement Agency bought the Varyag for $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.
In March 2002, following a significant delay by Turkish authorities who denied the carrier passage through the Bosporus Strait, the Varyag arrived in Dalian.
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 pursuingillegal activities."
The carrier was surrounded with heavy security in Dalian, which bars civilian access. Police flank the shipyard entrance. This fueled speculation that the Varyag 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. Around 70 percent complete, Varyag displaces about 33,600 tons [versus the 67,000-ton design displacement]. Varyag had the nuclear reactors that were installed by the Ukrainian state-run Generating Systems of Crimea removed 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.
2000 - Kiev
In May 2000, seperate from the sale of the Varyag, the Tianma Shipbreaking Company in Tianjin purchased the Kiev from Russia. While the initial contract required that the ship be scrapped, the contract was renogatiated so that the Kiev would become a tourist attraction at the Beiyang Recreation Harbor.
