PLAN Carrier Operations..News, Videos & Photos

Originally Posted by solarz

Naming after a province would be horribly banal. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of China's enemies like the "Jiangsu", or the "Sichuan", or maybe the "Inner Mongolia"!

The only exception would be the Black Dragon province.

The US Navy name their Ohio Class SSBN/SSGNs after the states too. USS Maine doesn't sound that scary as well, but its payload of 24 Trident II D5 SLBM (up to 8 W88 475kt yield nuclear warheads EACH) certainly commands fear.

PLAN does name ships after persons, but only training vessels...in China, the whole problem of naming anything after a person has a lot to do with political sensitivity, or political correctness in general terms. While that's a touchy issues everywhere - which is why many countries simply opted not to name ship after persons - in China it can go to nit-picking proportion.

Logically, principle surface combatant such as aircraft carrier, if to name after anyone, would only be fitting to name after leaders and generals, but who in modern Chinese history would be "clean enough" to be "indisputable", or at least not to send a wrong political message? The list is either very short or none. There's a good reason why Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping chosen cremation and scatter their ashes in the winds rather than proper burial: in China, you might be praised in this decade, and then denounced in the next when the wind change direction.

So it's far less complicated to name after places instead.

Originally Posted by MwRYum

The US Navy name their Ohio Class SSBN/SSGNs after the states too. USS Maine doesn't sound that scary as well, but its payload of 24 Trident II D5 SLBM (up to 8 W88 475kt yield nuclear warheads EACH) certainly commands fear.

PLAN does name ships after persons, but only training vessels...in China, the whole problem of naming anything after a person has a lot to do with political sensitivity, or political correctness in general terms. While that's a touchy issues everywhere - which is why many countries simply opted not to name ship after persons - in China it can go to nit-picking proportion.

Logically, principle surface combatant such as aircraft carrier, if to name after anyone, would only be fitting to name after leaders and generals, but who in modern Chinese history would be "clean enough" to be "indisputable", or at least not to send a wrong political message? The list is either very short or none. There's a good reason why Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping chosen cremation and scatter their ashes in the winds rather than proper burial: in China, you might be praised in this decade, and then denounced in the next when the wind change direction.

So it's far less complicated to name after places instead.

See, for submarines, it kind of makes sense. Subs are supposed to be stealthy, and they are at their best when not noticed.

Carriers, on the other hand, are an overt display of dominance and power. "Gansu" and "Henan" simply don't evoke that kind of sentiment.

There are quite a few uncontroversial (relatively speaking) martial figures in Chinese culture. The problem is, almost none are associated with naval power.

Originally Posted by solarz

Naming after a province would be horribly banal. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of China's enemies like the "Jiangsu", or the "Sichuan", or maybe the "Inner Mongolia"!

The only exception would be the Black Dragon province.

What if they name it after Taiwan, lol?

Not that I have any sway in the official naming but considering ex-Varyag will be an aircraft carrier class of one, I think something that emphasizes unity amongst Chinese everywhere without seeming aggressive to foreigners would be CNS Huaxia (華夏). It seems to be politically neutral and can stand the test of time. Plus it seems fitting since it will be the first Chinese carrier. And since it is more of a classical term, assuming she is lost in battle, it does not necessarily inflict a psychological blow because the term isn't used in modern context to refer to the nation.

Logically, principle surface combatant such as aircraft carrier, if to name after anyone, would only be fitting to name after leaders and generals, but who in modern Chinese history would be "clean enough" to be "indisputable", or at least not to send a wrong political message?

I see what you mean, but what about Sun Yat-sen? Or Admiral Zheng He? Those are two preeminent Chinese leaders that are loved by Chinese of all political stripes.

Originally Posted by Geographer

I see what you mean, but what about Sun Yat-sen? Or Admiral Zheng He? Those are two preeminent Chinese leaders that are loved by Chinese of all political stripes.

"Zheng He" is already used by a training vessel; Sun Yat-sen, while still revered in the PRC and by the CPC (you can always see they display Sun's portrait in the Tiananmen Square during National Day), plus widely recognized as the key figure who ended the imperial era in China, please remember that Sun is KMT...see, if only Taiwan has been re-unified with China and the whole KMT-CPC saga is case closed, using his name won't be of much complications; but as you should know, the fact is far from it.

Besides, unlike Zheng He who commanded the mightiest armada in Chinese history, Sun Yat-sen didn't do anything in contribution to Chinese navy establishment - okay, that's unfair because he could only led China out of the frying pan (Qing Dynasty) into the fire (warlord chaos that last till 1949), which he was soon sidelined and could do nothing.

That said, even Deng Xiaoping is in trouble - under his rule the military and the domestic military-industrial complex almost folded, major naval developments (if not the entire PLA and the military-industrial complex) only begun not long before his death.

See, that's what I'm talking about the complications associating with naming anyone - if you name anyone, you'd have to deal with those tricky history or somebody dug up dirt and start throwing your way, whichever comes first.

Like I said, name after province or location is better...or better still, learn from the British and name after some abstract or concept, personally I think something like "Pioneer" (先鋒) would be very fitting.

Latest rumor: insider claims the ship will be named after Liaoning province.

Originally Posted by ludasmatyi

Latest rumor: insider claims the ship will be named after Liaoning province.

Are those the same insiders who claimed the ship would be named Shi Lang?

Auxiliary would be named after people. very straight fwd and systematic. its in the rule books.

there are plenty of dead admirals, Sa Zhen Bin for example. Sa Zhenbing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shichang, the first chinese ship that can be called an aviation ship. is named afte Deng Shichang. who went down with his ship during battle of yalu.

Clearly aspirational.

or Wang Zhu. the first chief engineer hired by Boeing


I would think naming capital ships (cruisers a/c battle cruisers) after anicent provinces is nice.

Like the old 9 provinces of china. Nine Provinces (China) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Like the IJN named their battleships and battle cruisers after ancient provinces in Japan.

Mystical and Immovablly ancient. proud traditions.

I'm not sure about the 9 provinces idea, it would not be like the PLA to limit themselves to such a small number of candidates for names. They are unlikely to get anywhere close to 9 carriers, but if they have 3-4 carriers per class, 2-3 classes later and they are all out of names.

It is possible that the PLAN would keep up with appearances and name the Varyag after a person since it is technically a training ship. However, it is just as likely that they will stick with their old convention of naming principle surface combatants after cities, or they might start a whole new convention for naming carriers.

They have warships named after cities and landing ships named after mountains. If they continue with that general trend, they could just as easily decide to name carriers after rivers or lakes. It would amuse me no end if they renamed the Varyag the Yangtze Kiang.

Originally Posted by plawolf

I'm not sure about the 9 provinces idea, it would not be like the PLA to limit themselves to such a small number of candidates for names. They are unlikely to get anywhere close to 9 carriers, but if they have 3-4 carriers per class, 2-3 classes later and they are all out of names.

If they make name can be succeed from one to the next, then even a short list of candidates won't be much of an issue, just as long as the list won't be too short.

It is possible that the PLAN would keep up with appearances and name the Varyag after a person since it is technically a training ship. However, it is just as likely that they will stick with their old convention of naming principle surface combatants after cities, or they might start a whole new convention for naming carriers.

Perhaps for its entirety of service life that's what it'll be (hull is already 20 years old before it's commissioned, though not much stress and fatigue during those times but I'm no expert to how good the Soviet steel used in ex-Varyag, no idea how the chemical+physical characteristics affected by all those years sitting in salt water with nothing thicker than anti-rust primer), but it's self-defense armaments is fully combat-grade, and the most likely conflict against China will be within this decade, before China's own locally build carriers come into play - or worse, before PLAN's first operational carrier-borne air wing fully operational. Thus it no doubt have to shoulder a combat role for her whole service life.

They have warships named after cities and landing ships named after mountains. If they continue with that general trend, they could just as easily decide to name carriers after rivers or lakes. It would amuse me no end if they renamed the Varyag the Yangtze Kiang.

The current naming convention in PLAN have yet cover aircraft carrier, and with a "special provision" set aside, it'd more than likely to be so or they modify the convention for it, but we've yet hear anything about that. Still, name it after lakes is out because that has been set aside for AO vessels.

Originally Posted by solarz

Naming after a province would be horribly banal. Nothing strikes fear into the hearts of China's enemies like the "Jiangsu", or the "Sichuan", or maybe the "Inner Mongolia"!

The only exception would be the Black Dragon province.

My thoughts precisely, give a little recognition to some heroin of the Chinese people, the thought of an American carrier being the Obama, just stinks, and frankly the Chinese carrier needs to display a little humanity or persona, even some one mythical to inspire a little more trust. Everyones always whining about China's image problem, send a message of hope by naming her something more gracious and inspiring!

Originally Posted by Air Force Brat

My thoughts precisely, give a little recognition to some heroin of the Chinese people, the thought of an American carrier being the Obama, just stinks, and frankly the Chinese carrier needs to display a little humanity or persona, even some one mythical to inspire a little more trust. Everyones always whining about China's image problem, send a message of hope by naming her something more gracious and inspiring!

LOL, I vote for the Mulan.

Now don't get me wrong gentlemen, but as much as I like the name "dragon" I think it's a little too predictable and cliche. Yes I'm proud of my Chinese heritage but naming a first operable Chinese carrier like the Sea Dragon, Black Dragon, or something like that is just stereotyping itself to death. It should be creative and neat that makes people think back to the long unique history of China.