New imagery circulating on social media shows a second possible Chinese unmanned underwater vehicle mothership in Guangzhou. Several tugboats were towing the naval auxiliary vessel on the Pearl River, and the hull was still missing sensor and communication equipment.
The vessel appears to be part of a PLAN effort to support very large unmanned underwater vehicle operations. It is the second such ship to surface in public imagery, after an earlier presumed mothership reported in Shanghai.
Guangzhou hull details
The Guangzhou ship looked shorter and narrower than the Shanghai unit, with an initial estimate closer to 150 metres. It also had extensive scaffolding, which fits a ship still under construction or fitting-out rather than one already ready for service.
Both ships share a raised forward deckhouse that houses the bridge. Both also have a large opening leading into a hangar-like area at the rear.
Shanghai comparison
The earlier Shanghai ship was slightly over 200 metres long and carried 12 lifting masts at the stern. Naval News said the lifting system was meant to raise a cradle integrated into a welldeck-like stern, with dimensions that could support payloads of up to 50 metres for launch and recovery at sea.
By contrast, the Guangzhou vessel had 6 extended masts of similar height in a two abreast layout. Its side by side smokestacks for diesel engines also mirrored the Shanghai design, which points to a related layout even if the two hulls are not identical.
AI, reels, and fitting-out
AI detection tools described the footage as genuine, but the authenticity of the two short video reels remains to be resolved. That leaves the ship’s builder and its destination for further fitting-out work unverified, even though a COMEC shipyard linked to Huangpu Wenchong on Longxue Island is one plausible origin.
The practical significance is straightforward for analysts watching Chinese Navy auxiliaries: if the identification holds, Guangzhou adds another large platform that could handle Chinese UUVs in the 35 metre to 45 metre class. The next useful clue will be whether later imagery exposes the same stern machinery on the water rather than in a dockside view.
