The much-anticipated first sea trial of China's refurbished aircraft carrier Varyag has been postponed until August at the earliest because unspecified mechanical problems, according to Chinese media. Earlier reports had said the Kuznetsov-class carrier would go to sea on 1 July to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party[.]
It will be interesting to see where the Chinese send the ship for its first cruise. It will be a long time before this ship is a military factor rather than a diplomatic factor.
Of course, even when it is a military factor it wouldn't last long in a war with our Navy. It's funny that people who (rightly) worry about the survivability of our carriers in the face of Chinese missiles don't seem to remember that our missiles can sink their ships too.
UPDATE: China says this will be a research and training vessel and not an operational one. Well, yeah. China may build more carriers, so needs to know from experience how to build them. And even if China intended this to be a frontline carrier, it would take years of practice to make it a combat vessel in more than name only. So yes, in the short term it is a research and training vessel. It can be nothing else.
And in the meantime, as it trains and provides research insights, the ship can scare and impress the locals by making training visits to ports in the region and far afield.
