Majestic appearance of the Zhenghe-ship.

Let the sea be the witness! Oath-taking by probationary cadets on board of Zhenghe.

New generation of navigators set sail from here.

In 2004, the Zhenghe-ship came to Nanjing, where Zheng He kicked off his seven ocean voyages to west.

Cadets are observing the weather and measuring the sea on board of the Zhenghe-ship.

　　Zhenghe-ship is the first ocean going training vessel designed and manufactured by China and is now in commission in the Dalian Naval Academy for training cadets in oceangoing voyage. It is named after Zheng He, a great navigator of ancient China, and its hull number is no other than the "8.1" in Chinese characters, which is the founding date of the PLA. It has been put to long-distance voyage crossing the big ocean for 16 times with a total mileage of 210,000-plus nautical miles. So, it is the ship that has outstripped the other ships in terms of times of visit to other countries, sailing distance and on-service rate, hence being honored the "offshore mobile university" since more than one third of the grassroots commanding officers of the PLA Navy once received training and went through the test of the rough sea on board of the Zhenghe-ship.

　　"China has the first-class warship!"

　　On November15, 1993, the Zhenghe-ship visited India for the first time. According to international proprieties, a visiting warship should be fully dressed with flags and colors immediately after docking. The speed of its dressing up usually reflects the quality and training level of the sailors (Once, it took a foreign warship nearly one hour to be fully dressed when it visited Qingdao, a Chinese port city). It was no sooner than the first anchor line tossed from the Zhenghe-ship to the Bombay dock was well tied, 78 flags of various colors stretching 180 meters long were hung up high and all over the ship, and it took them only one minute to finish it all. Journalists from more than a dozen countries gathering at the wharf to see the appearance of the Chinese ship took photos with endless glittering flashlights on and off. The next day, various local media covered the news, saying: "China has the first-class warship!"

　　"Chinese navy has the first-rate skills!"

　　In September 2000, the Zhenghe-ship visited Russia. At 9:00 on Sept. 21, the ship sailed into Port Vladivostok under the guidance of Russian pilot. Given the special conditions of the port, the ship could only dock with its stern, making the docking quite difficult. Well, Captain Yu Min who was also the instructor commanded the docking calmly and resolutely. With only several terse orders, the ship was docked rapidly, neatly and steadily, exactly 40 minutes ahead of the schedule, which was way beyond all expectations of the officers and men of the Russian Navy present there. The Zhenghe-ship was already soundly fastened up and the gangway ladder put down before the Russians could line up to welcome the visitors. The Chief of staff of Russian Pacific Fleet was full of praise and said that "When the UK and the US fleets came here for visits, it took them almost two hours to dock. And yet, you did it 40 minutes faster. The Chinese navy has the first-rate skills!"