China May Be Preparing to Launch Second Amphibious Assault Ship

No official word has come down as of yet, but everything in the port city of Shanghai points to China’s second Type 075 amphibious assault ship being launched Wednesday afternoon.

The Chinese Communist Party-connected paper Global Times wrote on Tuesday that the Maritime Safety Administration of China had issued a navigation notice for Wednesday afternoon outside the Hudong Zhonghua shipyard. The notice said that a “new ship” will undock between 1:20 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday, with an area of water roughly a mile long and 1,150 feet wide being restricted for navigation.

However, while the notice did not specify which ship would be launching, other evidence also points to it being the new Type 075.

Photos also emerged on China’s Sina Weibo social media site on Monday showing the second Type 075 decked out with a new, blue-gray paint job and colorful international maritime signal flags dressed overall, giving all the hints of festivities to come.

​Sputnik also reported last month on the nearing completion of the warship, citing Chinese government statements and photos showing the finished flight deck and command island, albeit still sporting their red, noncorrosive paint.

A type of aircraft carrier that can also dispatch marine landing forces, the Type 075 is a direct analogue of the US Marine Corps’ new America-class warships and roughly the size of a World War II fleet aircraft carrier. The first Type 075 was launched just last September, and Beijing has ordered a third, which is not yet under construction.

The first Type 075, which has not been named yet because it has not been formally commissioned by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), suffered a fire last week while at the same Shanghai shipyard. Photos posted on social media show black smoke billowing out of the warship’s well deck, which it uses to dispatch amphibious forces. Sputnik initially reported the fire was on the second, unlaunched amphibious assault ship.

​If the second Type 075 is launched on Wednesday, it “could serve as a birthday present” for the PLAN, the foundation of which will be celebrated the following day, Global Times noted.