At present the Chinese navy ship task force visiting the United States, Canada and the Philippines is still on its long voyage. The reporter learned from the task force that during the past 40-odd days of transoceanic voyage, the naval equipment on the Chinese destroyer "Qingdao"--the commanding vessel of the task force, remains safe and sound. Thus it can be said that the PLA Navy ship's reform of "active maintenance " has withstood another test of long voyage.

　　After the destroyer "Qingdao" set off from the Chinese port city Qingdao on August 21, it has so far passed through stormy waves zone, hurricane zone, tropic zone and narrow channels, and has successfully visited three ports in the United States and Canada and staged the joint maritime search-and-rescue exercise, maritime communication and joint formation sailing drill with the U.S. Navy.

　　On the morning of August 28, the task force entered the Pacific Ocean after sailing through the Miyako Channel. Thereafter, it has passed through the high salinity zone, the high temperature zone, the high humidity zone and the stormy waves zone in succession, and shipboard equipment have withstood severe tests and been all the way in normal operation.

　　The reason why the task force has been able to avert peril on this long voyage is because it has carried out "active maintenance" over the ships at ordinary time. It is learned that before the voyage the sailors of the task force gave their ships a thorough "physical check-up" to remove all possible hidden troubles and established detailed monitoring data files. During the voyage, they also use a dozen of advanced testing and diagnostic equipment such as spectrograph and vibration analyzing apparatus to carry out all-time monitoring over major equipment in order to eliminate trouble timely.

　　By Cai Nianchi

　　(Oct 8, PLA Daily)