The Chinese naval ship Qi Jiguang returns to a military port in Qingdao on October 23, 2023.
By Nie Hongjie and Wang Fei
QINGDAO, Oct. 24 -- The Chinese naval ship Qi Jiguang returned to a military port in Qingdao on the morning of October 23 after completing its ocean-going training mission.
Since its departure on September 4, with over 300 cadets from the Chinese PLA Naval University of Engineering, Naval Submarine Academy and Naval Aviation University on board, the ship Qi Jiguang has sailed across two oceans, traversed nine sea areas, crossed six straits, and spanned five time zones, covering a total voyage of over 14,000 nautical miles and lasting more than 900 hours.
During the mission, ship Qi Jiguang gave full play to the function as a mobile university at sea, enabling the cadets to engage in practical training and navigation research in real ocean conditions. Furthermore, joint exercises with foreign military were also organized.
All the cadets completed professional training on departmental logistics, ship management, collision avoidance maneuver, international law, and other related courses, and passed the training assessment for 11 positions.
It is learnt that 10 midshipmen from Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji participated in the onboard training.
During the mission, the ship Qi Jiguang paid goodwill visits to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji respectively. The ship conducted 11 batches of friendly exchanges, with a total of 786 participants, received more than 4,000 visits, and held three deck receptions.
Midshipmen measure the solar altitude on the flight deck of the Chinese naval ship Qi Jiguang during the ocean-going training mission.
The Chinese naval ship Qi Jiguang conducts a joint exercise with a Fijian naval patrol boat during the ocean-going training mission.