China’s Fourth Aircraft Carrier Type 004 – Jiangnan Shipyard
Is this China’s fourth aircraft carrier Type 004 under construction at Jiangnan Shipyard, Changxing Island, Shanghai? Well, it appears to be (see addendum). There are numerous online reports that China is planning a fourth aircraft carrier – possibly larger than the Type 003 Fujian, and with nuclear propulsion. To date, there have been no definitive reports of the Type 004 being constructed; although an Australian tabloid newspaper reported that steel plate cutting for the ship began in December 2017. I was therefore surprised to see this recent satellite image on the Google Earth website, showing the advanced construction of an aircraft carrier at Jiangnan Shipyard.
Here is a wider view of the satellite image.
In the lower right of the Jiangnan Shipyard image is the Type 003 Fujian undergoing its fitting out stage. The upper left area of the same image appears to show a second aircraft carrier under construction, this I believe is the Type 004. It is clear from the images that the two ships are similar size and both have three catapult launch systems.
Launched on the 17th June 2022, the Type 003 Fujian is the first of China’s new generation of larger aircraft carriers for fixed-wing aircraft. The ship is of indigenous design, and is believed to have an advanced electromagnetic catapult launch system (shown covered in the images).
Given the advanced construction stage of the other aircraft carrier (assumed to be Type 004) at Jiangnan Shipyard, the ship could well be launched late 2023 or 2024.
It is interesting to speculate on a possible name for the Type 004 aircraft carrier when it is eventually launched? China’s three aircraft carriers have been named after provinces of China (PRC): Type 001 Liaoning, Type 002 Shandong and Type 003 Fujian. The province names Jiangsu, Guangxi and Zhejiang have already been used as ship names: the first on a bulk carrier (Jiangsu), the second on a Type 075 amphibious assault ship (Guangxi) and the third on a container ship (SITC Zhejiang). A possible name for the new PLA Navy aircraft carrier could be Guangdong. Guangdong is a coastal province of significant economic and geopolitical importance. Therefore, I hypothesise that China’s new aircraft carrier Type 004 could be named Guangdong.
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Addendum
The satellite image above appears to show two different aircraft carriers at Jiangnan shipyard, China. It was taken as a screenshot from Google Maps (Google.com) in January 2023, and was believed to show both the Type 003 and Type 004 carriers. Expert sources in the USA have now informed me, that an analysis of the image shows it to be a digital composite of two images: the lower part showing the Type 003 from August 2022, and the upper part showing an earlier image of the same Type 003 from December 2021. It is inexplicable that Google.com published this composite satellite image? Notwithstanding, I hope to add an authenticated image of the Type 004 aircraft carrier to this article at some future date.
11 April 2023
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