Shandong Uses Hainan Dry Dock for First Time, Expanding China's Carrier Support Network

A Carrier Maintenance Milestone in Southern China

Satellite imagery captured on January 21, 2026, showed China's aircraft carrier Shandong (CV-17) inside a dry dock at Yulin Naval Base in Sanya, on Hainan Island. The basin measures approximately 375 meters long and 78 meters wide, and this was the first recorded use of the facility by a Chinese aircraft carrier.

Analysis by AllSource Analysis, an American geospatial intelligence company, placed the carrier's arrival on either January 20 or January 21. The development gives the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) a southern location for maintaining its largest surface combatants, closer to their operating areas in the South China Sea.

Construction of the dock began in 2017, and the facility became operational in 2022. Before Shandong's arrival, it had serviced smaller surface combatants and coast guard vessels. Its first carrier visit therefore marks a new stage in the use of infrastructure built several years earlier.

China's aircraft carriers previously depended on the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province, in the country's north, for major repairs and overhauls. A carrier operating in southern waters could face a journey of thousands of kilometers to reach that maintenance center, adding travel time to the period spent out of service.

Yulin's ability to receive Shandong brings maintenance closer to the fleet's southern base. It can reduce journeys for repairs between deployments and help carriers return to operations sooner. The change matters because a carrier's availability depends on both its performance at sea and the facilities that keep its hull, machinery and supporting systems working.

What the Dry Dock Allows Crews to Do

A dry dock is a basin that can be emptied of water after a vessel enters. Once the ship is supported and the water has been drained, maintenance crews can reach areas normally hidden beneath the sea.

Shandong's underwater hull, propellers, rudders and sea chests can all be accessed this way. Sea chests are openings in a ship's hull through which seawater enters onboard systems. These components need inspection and maintenance, just as machinery above the waterline does.

Crews can clean the hull, repaint surfaces to protect them against corrosion and carry out more complex work on propulsion systems. Such work helps preserve a large warship's operating condition and service life. A normal berth, where the vessel remains afloat, cannot provide the same access.

The particular work being performed on Shandong, and its expected departure date, have not been specified. The importance of the visit lies in the demonstrated ability to put a carrier into the southern dock, while the extent and duration of this maintenance period remain unspecified.

Without a suitable facility nearby, even routine work below the waterline can require a trip to a distant shipyard. Those journeys extend the time a carrier spends away from its operating area, on top of the time required for the repairs themselves.

How Yulin Became a Larger Naval Support Hub

Yulin's dock forms part of an investment intended to turn Sanya from a base for deployments into a naval hub capable of supporting ships through more of their operating and maintenance cycle. Building the basin took five years, from 2017 to 2022.

The interval between its opening and its first carrier visit in January 2026 suggests a period of preparation, testing and certification for handling a ship of this size. Receiving a carrier requires suitable infrastructure and personnel able to manage a much larger and more complex vessel than those previously serviced there.

Shandong measures 304.5 meters in length and 75 meters in width, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' ChinaPower project. The dock's reported dimensions of approximately 375 meters by 78 meters provide room for the carrier.

The facility also has the capacity to accommodate CNS Fujian (CV-18), China's third and most advanced aircraft carrier. Fujian entered active service on November 7, 2025, and is also homeported in the Southern Theatre Command.

Yulin's expansion extends beyond the dry dock. New berthing and maintenance infrastructure added over the past year is intended to support multiple aircraft carriers and their escort fleets. Together, these facilities increase the amount of support that ships can receive in the south.

A Busy Carrier Reaches Its Maintenance Cycle

Shandong entered the dock after maintaining an intense operating pace during 2025. Its recent activities included the exercises Joint Sword-2024B and Strait Thunder-2025A, alongside naval aviation training reported to have involved approximately 10,000 flight operations.

The carrier also conducted integration exercises with destroyers and frigates and deployed to strategically sensitive areas. Those activities place demands on the carrier's machinery and systems, creating a need for technical inspections and maintenance after sustained operations.

Shandong was commissioned in December 2019. It was the first aircraft carrier built entirely in China and became the PLAN's second operational carrier, following Liaoning (CV-16). Liaoning had originally been constructed for the Soviet Navy before China purchased it as an unfinished hull.

After several years of testing and training, Shandong completed its first operational deployment to the western Pacific in 2023. That deployment demonstrated its ability to operate beyond waters immediately adjacent to the Chinese mainland.

The sequence from commissioning to distant operations and then maintenance in Hainan shows how the carrier's support requirements have developed alongside its role at sea. Sustained aviation activity and operations with escorts require dependable opportunities for repair between deployments.

The Dates Behind the Docking

Shandong's arrival followed years of construction, fleet development and exercises. The key dates show how the southern maintenance facility and China's carrier force developed alongside one another.

• 2017: Construction began on the Yulin Naval Base dry dock in Sanya.
• December 2019: Shandong was commissioned as China's first domestically built aircraft carrier and its second operational carrier.
• 2022: The Yulin dry dock was completed and became operational.
• 2023: Shandong completed its first operational deployment to the western Pacific.
• 2024 and 2025: Shandong's exercise activity included Joint Sword-2024B and Strait Thunder-2025A, with an intense operating pace during 2025.
• November 7, 2025: Fujian entered active service.
• January 20 or January 21, 2026: Shandong entered the Yulin dry dock, according to AllSource Analysis.
• January 21, 2026: Satellite imagery showed the carrier inside the facility.

The dock had been operating for several years before accepting its first carrier. Its earlier use by smaller warships and coast guard vessels preceded the move to servicing one of the navy's largest surface combatants.

Reducing Dependence on Dalian

Dalian's position in northern China made it a distant maintenance destination for carriers operating from the south. A journey there removed a vessel from its southern operating area before repairs even began, while the return journey added another period away.

Alex Luck, an Australia-based naval analyst, described Shandong's arrival at Yulin as a milestone in the development of the navy's support network:

Event illustrates a significant milestone for [People's Liberation Army Navy, PLAN] both in terms of diversifying logistics and support infrastructure and reducing reliance on Dalian for carrier maintenance.

Adding a southern facility spreads carrier support across more than one location. This gives the PLAN another maintenance option and reduces the risk that congestion or delays at northern shipyards could constrain the carrier fleet at the same time.

The change also addresses what analysts describe as a potential carrier gap in the South China Sea. Under the previous arrangement, travel to Dalian and the time needed for repairs could leave the southern theatre without carrier coverage for weeks or months.

Such absences could create opportunities for rival powers and complicate China's effort to maintain a consistent presence in disputed waters. A maintenance base closer to those waters reduces one source of prolonged absence, though the carrier undergoing work is still unavailable for operations during that period.

Supporting Carrier Rotations in the South China Sea

Fujian's entry into service adds another carrier to the southern theatre, alongside Shandong. With a dock able to accommodate both vessels, the PLAN gains greater scope to rotate carriers through maintenance while another remains available for operations.

The potential benefit is more sustained carrier coverage across the year, rather than a presence dependent on individual deployments separated by lengthy trips north for repairs. Local maintenance can help preserve the pace of operations by shortening the distance between a carrier's operating area and its support facilities.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator, previously highlighted the importance of standardized carrier support infrastructure. He noted the South China Sea's complex sea conditions and said the ability to conduct different operational tasks and then carry out repairs within the same theatre demonstrated that Shandong's task force possessed complete and self-contained combat power.

His assessment connects activity at sea with the ability to restore a force's readiness afterward. A task force that can receive support locally has less need to withdraw from the southern theatre for extended periods, helping China maintain pressure and presence in contested waters.

Yulin's carrier maintenance capability therefore supports the possibility of continuous operations in the South China Sea. Its practical contribution is to make repair cycles easier to manage within the region where the carriers are based.

Why Escort Ships Need Support Too

A carrier strike group includes more than the aircraft carrier itself. Shandong's exercises with destroyers and frigates reflect the need for those ships to work together, and the supporting vessels also need berths, supplies and maintenance.

A Chinese military observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, previously described the wider support requirement:

A carrier doesn't act alone, it also needs to provide support facilities for the entire [carrier strike] group.

Yulin's additional berthing and maintenance infrastructure addresses that broader need. Supporting several carriers and their escorts requires more capacity than a single basin, even one large enough to receive a carrier.

China's investment points toward the industrial and logistical capacity needed for prolonged naval campaigns, rather than occasional deployments intended to display military strength. Specialized supply chains and trained maintenance personnel are part of that requirement, alongside the docks and berths.

The development also fits the PLAN's transition from a regional force toward a navy capable of sustained operations far from home. The term blue-water navy describes that ability to operate across distant oceans; green-water operations are more closely tied to a country's surrounding seas.

Connections to the Indian Ocean and Middle East

Hainan's location makes the immediate maintenance benefit most relevant to the South China Sea. Analysts also connect the facility to China's ambitions to operate farther away, through the Indian Ocean and toward the Middle East.

Providing major maintenance in the south can support deployments along sea lanes linking those regions. That direction fits China's interests in protecting shipping routes and projecting military power in areas traditionally dominated by the United States and its allies.

Operations beyond the first island chain require more than the ability to sail a long distance. The first island chain is the term used for the line of islands bordering the seas off East Asia. Sustaining carrier groups beyond it requires robust support ashore, specialized supplies and facilities that can prepare ships for further deployments.

Yulin is a significant part of that expanding support network. Its contribution is to make southern China a stronger base for preparing and maintaining carrier groups that may operate farther into the Indian Ocean or toward the Middle East.

The docking also coincided with a change in American carrier presence. As Shandong entered the facility, USS Abraham Lincoln departed the Western Pacific for possible deployment to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran.

That movement illustrates how carrier availability affects choices across several regions. A navy must balance deployments with maintenance and changing demands elsewhere. For China, a second location capable of receiving carriers for dock work offers greater flexibility in making those decisions.

The Bottom Line

• Satellite imagery on January 21, 2026, showed Shandong in Yulin Naval Base's dry dock, following an arrival on January 20 or January 21.
• The dock measures approximately 375 meters by 78 meters. Construction began in 2017, and it became operational in 2022.
• Shandong was the first Chinese aircraft carrier to use the facility, which had previously serviced smaller surface combatants and coast guard vessels.
• Maintenance in Hainan reduces dependence on Dalian and can shorten the time carriers spend traveling away from southern operating areas.
• The dock can also accommodate Fujian, which entered active service on November 7, 2025, and is based in the southern theatre.
• Expanded docks, berths and maintenance facilities support carriers and their escorts, strengthening China's capacity for sustained operations in the South China Sea and farther afield.