Beijing took its time studying the old warship.
Here s What You Need to Know: Each and every crucial part may have been studied before being melted down.
By the end of the decade, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) could operate three aircraft carriers, two of which were built domestically. Its first operational carrier,
Liaoning, actually began life as Soviet Navy Project 11435
Kuznetsov-class heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser
Varyag in the late 1980s and it was one of two former Soviet vessels purchased by Beijing to jumpstart a Chinese domestic carrier program.
However, the
Varyag/
Liaoning wasn’t actually the first carrier that the PLAN had access to for future study. In 1985, Beijing bought the ex-Australian HMAS