BEIJING – China’s first aircraft carrier was delivered and commissioned to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Tuesday after years of refitting and sea trials.

Overseen by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, the carrier was officially handed over by the navy’s main contractor, the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, at a ceremony held at a naval base in northeast China’s port city of Dalian.

President Hu, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), endorsed a PLA flag and naming certificate to Senior Captain Zhang Zheng, commanding officer of China’s first carrier, the Liaoning.

“Today will be forever remembered as China’s Navy has entered an era of aircraft carrier,” Zhang told Xinhua on the carrier’s flight deck.

“When I received the PLA flag from the President, a strong sense of duty and commitment welled up in my heart,” said Zhang who has served as commanding officer on the Navy’s frigate and destroyer.

The carrier, rebuilt from the Soviet ship Varyag, was renamed “Liaoning” and underwent years of refitting efforts to install engines, weapons, as well as a year-long sea trial.

According to Mei Wen, political commissar of the carrier, the Liaoning will be operated by a well-educated and trained crew, as more than 98 percent of the commissioned officers on board hold bachelor degrees and more than 50 of them hold master or doctoral degrees.

Most of the carrier’s commissioned and non-commissioned officers were selected and transferred from the Navy’s other surface vessels through tough competition. Female sailors also serve at various posts on the Liaoning.

The Navy did not disclose any type of carrier-borne aircraft deployed on the Liaoning. But one maintenance officer in charge of the carrier’s air wing said they would deal with engine noise and jet blast heat.

“The delivery and commission of the Liaoning is just a small step of China’s aircraft carrier program and there is a long way to go before we have a powerful navy,” said the commanding officer.

The delivery made China the tenth country and the last one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to have an aircraft carrier in active service.

Source and photo: PLA