DALIAN - China's refitted aircraft carrier platform left its shipyard at Dalian Port in northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday morning to set sail for its first sea trial.
Military sources said that the trial is in line with the carrier's refitting schedule and will not take a long time. Refitting work will continue after the vessel has returned to the port.
The carrier was originally built by the former Soviet Union, which failed to complete the ship's construction before collapsing in 1991. The still-unnamed aircraft carrier was an empty shell when it was sold to Ukraine. Ukraine later disarmed it and removed its engines before selling it to China.
It is still unknown where or for how long the carrier's first sea trial will last.
The Liaoning Provincial Maritime Safety Administration publicized a notice restricting navigation in waters off the Dalian coast, saying that vessels are forbidden from traveling through an area of sea 13.25 nautical miles wide and 22 nautical miles long in the northern Yellow Sea and Liaodong Bay from August 10 to 14.
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