PLAN (Unknown designation as yet)

The Chinese could not get permission from the government of Turkey to pass threough the Sraits of Istanbul until 2001, at which time the Varyag was towed to China, a cruise that the big ship, now without rudders or engines, made in surprisingly good condition passing through the Mediteranean, the Suez Canal, by the Cape of Good Hope headland, across the Indian Ocean, through the Straits of Malacca, into the China Sea and finally to Dalian, China in mid 2002. It was ultimately docked at the Naval Shipyards in Dalian where it has been under tight security ever since. The holding company, which had ties to the PLAN, went out of business.

The Varyag has been undergoing significant work at Dalian ever since. This has included an intital stint in dry dock where she emerged in 2005 having been painted in the offical PLAN combatant colors. It has included significant time at pier side with work going on internally throughout the period, and the application of a primer and then full non-skid sirface to the deck. Most recently, in April 2009, it has involved the move of the vessel once again to dry dock for what appears to be final outfitting. It certainly appears at this point that she will be made operational, if for no other reason, as a training ship for the PLAN, to gain experience while the Chinese build their own carriers (which is their stated intention to build two indigenous, large carriers in the 20-teens).

The Chinese have been engaged over the last five to seven years in one of the most astounding and ambitious modern naval shipbuilding programs since World War II. Although they are retiring some older vessels, the shear rapidity with which they are replacing them with very efficient modern combatants is amazing. Those combatants include all of the necessary ingredients to create and field a major carrier battle gropup of their own...if they had the carrier to go with it.

If made operational, with a wing of SU-33 fighters, and/or carrier modified J-10 aircraft, the Varyag could represent a significant shift in the balance of naval power in the area.