Story perspectives

China Builds Second UUV Support Vessel at Guangzhou Shipyard

By Drooid · Oct 20, 2026, 12:06 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

China built a second uncrewed-underwater-vehicle support vessel at Guangzhou Shipyard International.
The 150-metre Guangzhou ship, spotted on the Pearl River, has six vertical lifting towers at its stern.
Both vessels feature a flight deck, forward hangar, and stern well-deck for UUV launch and recovery.
Analyst H.I. Sutton said the 200-metre Shanghai vessel has twelve stern towers and could act as a UUV mothership.

History

Historical Context

In the early 2010s the U.S. Navy repurposed the amphibious ship USS Ponce to test drone launch and recovery, following DARPA’s 2013 program to field unmanned-capable vessels. China built its first dedicated unmanned carrier, the research ship Zhu Hai Yun, launched on 18 May 2022, and is now constructing larger motherships. These steps extend a global trend of converting existing hulls into drone carriers, reshaping the Indo-Pacific naval balance.

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Story summary

China built a second uncrewed-underwater-vehicle support vessel at Guangzhou Shipyard International.
The 150-metre Guangzhou ship, spotted on the Pearl River, has six vertical lifting towers at its stern.
Both vessels feature a flight deck, forward hangar, and stern well-deck for UUV launch and recovery.
Analyst H.I. Sutton said the 200-metre Shanghai vessel has twelve stern towers and could act as a UUV mothership.

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