China's lone aircraft carrier, the CNS Liaoning (CV-16), is being described as "a training ship for the next generation of officers who will serve on the country's aircraft carriers" by a website of the People's Liberation Army instead of a warship "prepared for war" as claimed by the ship's communist party political commissar.

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A lengthy online story with the title "A floating college of naval expertise," revealed the training being undergone by the ship's company that consists mostly of new naval recruits.

Training these rookies is the responsibility of 42 senior officers, most of whom were members of the carrier's refitting team in 2009. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said each of these officers trained three or more squad leaders on average, accounting for 70 percent of the young officers aboard the Liaoning.

These officers said transforming the Varyag, a heavy aircraft carrying cruise of the Soviet Union, into the Liaoning was the biggest challenge they had ever faced.

"It was a floating junkyard," said Liu Debo, a first class petty officer with 26 years experience in boiler rooms upon seeing the run-down Soviet ship for the first time.

Varyag arrived in Dalian in 2002 where its hull, engine, and radar and electronics systems were fully upgraded.

"There were no design layouts, no models and no experience to rely on," said Liu. "We had to start everything from scratch."

PLAN considers Liaoning a training ship designed to train a cadre of aircraft carrier crew and pilots that will man the next two Chinese carriers currently under construction. Because it is a training carrier, Liaoning will likely never engage in combat against any of the U.S. Navy's much larger and better armed Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

The Liaoning's Communist Party commissar Senior Captain Li Dongyou, raised a storm of controversy by alleging the carrier is "always prepared for war and our combat capacity also needs to be tested by war. At this moment, we are doing our best to promote our strength and use it to prevent war, and are prepared for actual combat at any time."

Commissioned into the PLAN in 2012, Liaoning displaces 67,000 tons and has a crew of 1,900 sailors and an air group of 630 men. Major General Liu Zhe is Captain of the Liaoning.

TagsCNS Liaoning, People's Liberation Army Navy, Senior Captain Li Dongyou, Major General Liu Zhe, Aircraft carrier