Liaoning (CV-16) — Chinese Aircraft Carrier Model, 30 in
Liaoning (CV-16) — Chinese Aircraft Carrier Model, 30 in
How big is it?
Length about 76 cm / 30.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 30 in / 76 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM461
China's first aircraft carrier — and a ship with a genuinely strange history.
Handcrafted at 30 inches with ski-jump bow, flight deck, island and aircraft detail.
Specification
- 30 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Ski-jump bow and flight deck
- Island, radar, mast and deck aircraft
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The ship
She was laid down in 1985 in Soviet Ukraine as Riga, renamed Varyag, and left 68 percent complete when the USSR collapsed. Ukraine inherited a rusting hull with no engines, no rudder and no electronics.
In 1998 a Macau company with no ships and no maritime business bought her at auction for $20 million, stating she would become a floating casino. Turkey refused her passage through the Bosphorus for sixteen months. She was eventually towed to Dalian, where the casino plan quietly evaporated and a full naval refit began.
She was commissioned as Liaoning in 2012 and now serves as a training carrier.