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New floating dock enables offshore warship repairs for China navy

Xinhua, March 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

China's first self-propelled floating dock Huachuan-1 has successfully repaired warships in a mock war zone, expanding the navy's warship repair scope far from the coast, according to military sources on Thursday.

While traditional floating drydocks lack a propelling system and have to be dragged slowly to its destination, Huachuan-1 is equipped with a dual-engine system and designed to sail open sea areas by itself, changing a long-time practice that ships have to reach designated spots on the shore first before getting repaired.

Complete with boarding sections, high-stability maintenance facilities and a defense system against air and pirate attacks, the new dock is able to provide maintenance on moving ships amid treacherous weather, greatly shortening a vessel's maintenance cycle and boosting the navy's open sea operations.

The dock is capable of conducting maintenance for all vessels with the navy -- except aircraft carriers -- as well as civilian vessels with a displacement under 30,000 tonnes. Endi