The Type 679 training ship with
NATO reporting name Daxin, or 大兴 in Chinese meaning Great Prosper, is a Chinese
training ship
A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...
developed for the
People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The ship is more commonly known as ''Zheng He'' , after the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
admiral
of the same name.
''Zheng He'' is the first purpose-built training ship indigenously developed by China. Designed by the 708th Institute of
China State Shipbuilding Corporation
The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is a Chinese shipbuilding conglomerate.
Description
CSSC is one of the top 10 defence groups in China. It consists of various shipyards, equipment manufacturers, research institutes and shipbu ...
(CSSC), commonly known as China Shipbuilding and Oceanic Engineering Design Academy (中国船舶及海洋工程设计研究), the ship was built by Qiuxing (求新) Shipyard in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
, a division of
Jiangnan Shipyard
Jiangnan Shipyard () is a historic shipyard in Shanghai, China. The shipyard has been state-owned since its founding in 1865 and is now operated as Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co. Ltd.
Before 2009, the company was south of central Shanghai at ...
.
The ship is designed to be crewed by 170 sailors and 30 instructors assigned to the ship. The ship has a large hospital on board to accommodate cadet classes. She was originally designed to house 108 cadets in addition to the crew and instructors. When the ship first entered service in 1987, she was the first ship in the PLAN to incorporate entertainment rooms (there are two such rooms). The vessel supports training in over forty subjects.
In April 1989, Zheng He became the first ship in the PLAN to visit the United States when she visited Hawaii. Between April 16 and September 21, 2012, Zheng He conducted her first
circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical body (e.g. a planet or moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth was the Magel ...
of the globe, crossing three oceans, visiting 11 countries, and covering more than 30,000 nautical miles over the course of a 159-day voyage.
References
{{Ship classes of the Chinese Navy, state=uncollapsed
People's Liberation Army Navy
Auxiliary ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy
Training ships of the People's Liberation Army Navy
Training ships
Ships built in China
1986 ships
Dalian
zh:郑和号训练舰