How a Soviet-era casino cover story became China's first operational aircraft carrier

Wars & Conflicts · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The Liaoning began as an abandoned Soviet hulk, purchased by a businessman under the guise of building a floating casino. After a perilous 15,000-nautical-mile journey and years of complex refitting, it transformed into the cornerstone of China's modern naval power, marking a shift from experimental training to combat-ready strike operations.

The Liaoning was originally laid down in 1984 as the Kuznetsov-class carrier Riga at a Ukrainian shipyard. Following the 1991 Soviet collapse, construction halted with the ship only 68 percent complete. In 1998, a Macau-based shell company purchased the vessel for 20 million dollars, claiming it would be converted into a floating hotel and casino. This narrative served as a cover for the Chinese Navy, which lacked the official budget or government support for the acquisition at the time. The project was fraught with difficulty, including a 16-month delay in the Black Sea after Turkey initially denied the ship passage through the Bosphorus, citing navigation risks.

The ship finally arrived at the Dalian shipyard in 2002. The conversion process was massive, with designers noting the workload was equivalent to building ten new destroyers. Unlike its Soviet sister ship, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which retained anti-ship cruise missiles, the Liaoning was configured solely as an aircraft carrier. The cruise missile tubes were never installed, and the space was repurposed for hangar and storage use. The vessel was commissioned into the People's Liberation Army Navy on 25 September 2012, initially serving as a training platform before transitioning to a combat role in 2019.

While the Liaoning represents a significant leap in capability, it retains limitations inherited from its Soviet design. The ski-jump takeoff system restricts the range and armament of its Shenyang J-15 fighters compared to catapult-launched jets. Additionally, the carrier lacks organic long-range radar and fixed-wing anti-submarine aircraft, necessitating support from land-based assets. Despite these constraints, the ship has become a symbol of China's maturing naval strategy. By 2026, the carrier was leading strike groups that mimicked the layered formations of the United States Navy, conducting live-fire drills in the Western Pacific and Philippine Sea to project power far beyond China's coastal waters.

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