A new training ship joined the People’s Liberation Army Navy, also known as the PLA Navy, on Feb 21 with the commissioning and naming ceremony held at a naval port Dalian in northeast China’s Liaoning province on Tuesday morning.

Vice Admiral Tian Zhong, deputy commander of the PLA Navy, attended the ceremony. He presented the ensigns of the PLA and the PLA Navy and the naming certificate to the new training ship.

The new oceangoing training ship has been named Qi Jiguang after an ancient Chinese national hero Qi Jiguang (1528–1588) in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), who is known in the Chinese history for dedicating more than ten years of his life to leading Ming forces to defend China’s eastern and southeastern coastal regions from raids by Japanese pirates.

The training ship Qi Jiguang has been assigned to the Dalian Naval Academy.

The ship is 163 meters long and 22 meters wide, with a full loaded displacement of 9,000 tons and maximum speed of 22 knots (1 knot equals to 1 nautical mile/hr). It can resist hurricanes.

Independently designed and built by China, it is the largest and the most advanced training ship of the Chinese navy.

On the training ship, 400-plus midshipmen or sailors are able to conduct offshore and open sea internship practice on the subjects of nautical service, ship navigating and handing as well as other naval training items. Though the network-based facilities on the ship, midshipmen can conduct virtual maritime exercises.

At the commissioning ceremony, Rear Admiral Yan Zhengming, superintendent of the Dalian Naval Academy, announced the order of conferring the name of Qi jiguang and the pennant number of “83” to the ship.