China Navy Aircraft carrier Liaoning left Qingdao naval base for sea training.

According to some sources on Twitter, the China Navy Aircraft carrier Liaoning has left Qingdao naval base for sea training on Saturday 21st September, another tweet reported that the Aircraft carrier has been spotted with a Type 055 DDG together (most likely the Nanchang 101) on Sunday 22nd September.

China Navy Aircraft carrier Liaoning leave Qingdao naval base for sea training (Picture source: Twitter Loongnaval)

Liaoning is a Chinese Type 001 aircraft carrier. The first aircraft carrier commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force, it is classified as a training ship, intended to allow the Navy to experiment, train and gain familiarity with aircraft carrier operations.

Originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft cruiser Riga, it was launched on 4 December 1988 and renamed Varyag in 1990. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, construction was halted and the ship was put up for sale by Ukraine. The stripped hulk was purchased in 1998 and towed to the Dalian naval shipyard in northeast China.

The ship was rebuilt and commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as Liaoning on 25 September 2012. Its Chinese ship class designation is Type 001. In November 2016, the political commissar of Liaoning, Commodore Li Dongyou, stated that Liaoning was combat-ready.

Chinese and Russia media reported on Saturday that the Chinese government has decided to sell its first and only aircraft carrier to Pakistan. More specifically, the Liaoning will be sold to Pakistan for a yet-undetermined price in order to upgrade the Pakistani Navy’s capabilities.