China is planning to build its first marine resources survey ship and its first mother ship for manned submersibles, with construction slated to start in July, the State Oceanic Administration revealed on Wednesday.

"The two ships will have world-class technological and operational capacity. They will be able to travel at least 6,000 nautical miles on each journey," Hu Xuedong, the administration's deputy director, said. "This service will extensively improve our capabilities in ocean surveying, deep-sea science, and marine environmental protection."

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The marine resources survey ship will be 98 meters long and 17 meters wide, with a displacement of 4,000 tons. It will be equipped with a cutting-edge electric propulsion system. It will carry over 70 types of research equipment and is capable of performing accurate and long-term surveys across different fields including marine geology, marine ecology, and ocean-atmosphere systems.

The mother ship, on the other hand, will serve China's manned submersible Jiaolong, supporting and analyzing the samples obtained by the submersible. With an estimated displacement of 4,000 tons, the mother ship will aid in China's effort to construct a manned deep-sea station that is slated to be put into service by 2030.

Meanwhile, both survey and mother ships are scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2019. The survey ship will be constructed at China State Shipbuilding Corp's Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Co in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, while the mother ship for manned submersibles in China Shipbuilding Industry Corp's Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry in Wuhan, Hubei province.

Tagsmaritime survey ship, mother ship, manned submersibles, Jiaolong