PLA personnel visit the Varyag cruiser, and their facial expressions are quite telling

On July 8th, Chinese and Russian navies jointly organized a ship exchange visit event in Qingdao, China. China showcased its Type 052DL warship, the "Kaifeng," to Russia, while Russia directly displayed its 10,000-ton cruiser, the Varyag.

Members of the PLA Navy boarded the Varyag for on-site inspection. From footage captured at the scene, it's clearly evident that, unlike the solemn expressions shown by Russian naval personnel when visiting the Type 052D, our military personnel’s expressions were far more expressive—several even appeared to be struggling hard to maintain composure.

The Varyag cruiser has a displacement exceeding 10,000 tons, over 3,000 tons more than the Type 052DL. But in reality, the combat capabilities of both sides are from entirely different eras.

When comparing modern warships' powerful vertical launch systems, the Type 052D features 64 vertical launch cells—capable of cold and hot launch compatibility with exceptional versatility. It can strike targets in the air, on land, and underwater, without exaggeration.

In contrast, if this type of vessel were part of our military’s combat fleet today, it would essentially already be museum-bound. The Varyag lacks typical vertical launch cells; instead, it relies primarily on revolver-type and tilting launch systems, capable only of air defense and anti-ship operations. Currently, within the PLA Navy, only the early-model Type 051C still uses the original Russian revolver launch system. As for tilting anti-ship launchers, apart from the Type 054 and Type 056 frigates, one might have to look as far as the Type 022 missile boat. In just a few years, such launch methods will likely vanish entirely from China’s naval combat formations.

Thus, we can now understand why our soldiers and officers had to carefully manage their facial expressions during the visit to the Varyag! After all, maintaining unity between two nations and two militaries is crucial—laughing out loud would be inappropriate.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870292026596427/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.