I'm very confident that it is, assuming GE is correct with the date.
If this photo was taken when it said it was (July 21st, 2016), then that is well after the first photo of the hull taken on the ground was posted online on June 17th, 2016:
055 DDG Large Destroyer Thread
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I'm very confident that it is, assuming GE is correct with the date.
If this photo was taken when it said it was (July 21st, 2016), then that is well after the first photo of the hull taken on the ground was posted online on June 17th, 2016:
Probably something like this.... and I imagine it was taken off a barge past the shipyard.... unless our dear photographer has a lens that is big enough to zoom in across the opposite shore from Shanghai, over 6km across lol.
The "direction" is probably more like an "angle" -- and as the barge travels down the water parallel to the shore of the shipyard, the photographer is able to take snaps at a 90 degree or less angle, but based on the surrounding ships on the pier and the layout of the shipyard I think most photos are taken more "down" river
The coordinates of JNCX, for anyone who doesn't know it, is here btw:
31°20'39.83"N 121°44'55.23"E
The "direction" is probably more like an "angle" -- and as the barge travels down the water parallel to the shore of the shipyard, the photographer is able to take snaps at a 90 degree or less angle, but based on the surrounding ships on the pier and the layout of the shipyard I think most photos are taken more "down" river
The coordinates of JNCX, for anyone who doesn't know it, is here btw:
31°20'39.83"N 121°44'55.23"E
If you're talking about this bow module (boxed in red), that is almost definitely for an 052D, not 055, when considering the geometry and size as well as the size and relative distance of the openings for the main gun and VLS block.
In fact there are 052Ds in that same picture which corresponds identically with that bow module.
Oh yes. And I also looked at the bow module's structures and geometry as well, down to an eye altitude of about 80m, and it's pretty obvious that it's an 052D module.
Unless 055's bow is exactly the same as 052D's bow, then that module is categorically not for 055.
I can draw out a diagram of the exact part of the 052D which that that bow module is meant to represent, but I think it's pretty easy to see once you zoom down close enough, and compare it with some of the 052Ds in the fitting basin and then look at a picture of a real world 052D, then compare it mentally with what we expect 055's bow to look like based on the established features of the 055 mock up.
I'd say there's a chance big modules are not 055 at all, but a commercial ship. due to large open spaces inside the hull. as far as i can tell, most warships are nowadays built with already assembled decks within modules with only openings really being for machinery. Here the large open spaces are more akin to how some sort of cargo vessel would be built.
I was thinking that myself, but then you have the issue of the sloped hull which is a uniquely distinctive feature of military ships. Then again the latest photos don't show much of a sloped hull, so who knows.
I also realize that there is a Type 726 sitting right in the middle of the slipway.
I considered that too -- however, photos on the ground do seem to show the internals of the hull modules to have already assembled decks (which we can tell despite being deliberately blurred).
So I think based off that, there is a good chance that these satellite photos are deceptive and that the "large open spaces" are actually only appearing that way because of the (relatively) low resolution of the images themselves, and in reality the "open spaces" are merely the upper most decks of the modules.
If the satellite photos were higher res then I'd trust them more over the photos on the ground, but as it stands, I'm going to have to go with the photos on the ground on this one.
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