New imagery from Guangzhou has revealed a second Chinese naval auxiliary ship that analysts assess may be designed to launch and recover large uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), alongside a larger, similar vessel previously observed in Shanghai.
The ship was seen under tow on the Pearl River, still carrying scaffolding and without its sensor or communications fit. Naval News cautioned that the short videos first circulated on Weibo have not been independently authenticated, although its checks with AI-detection tools suggested the footage was likely genuine. The outlet also said the builder and fitting-out destination required further imagery to confirm.
The most conspicuous feature is a stern opening resembling a well-deck gate, above which sit six masts in a two-abreast arrangement. Naval News assessed that the masts could operate a cradle for lowering and recovering underwater vehicles beneath the hull. The vessel also has a raised forward deckhouse, rear hangar-like space and paired diesel exhausts.
The configuration resembles a larger vessel under construction at Hudong in Shanghai, which has twelve lifting masts and is estimated to be slightly more than 200 metres long. The Guangzhou ship appears closer to 150 metres, based on the available imagery. The Shanghai vessel’s apparent cradle could accommodate payloads up to 50 metres long, Naval News reported; that remains an interpretation of yard imagery rather than a confirmed capability.
The War Zone reported that archival satellite imagery from October 2 showed the Guangzhou vessel at Guangzhou Shipyard International’s Longxue Island facility before launch, identifying that yard as its builder. The report described the ship as roughly a third smaller than the Shanghai example and noted its six lift towers, compared with six larger and six smaller towers on the earlier vessel.
Neither publication cited an official Chinese statement identifying the ship’s mission, control system, embarked UUV type or autonomy level. The design therefore should be treated as a suspected UUV-support platform, not evidence of an operational deployment. Its emergence nevertheless adds a second distinct hull to open-source assessments of China’s infrastructure for handling very large underwater drones at sea.