China: a second “mothership” for underwater drones emerges at the Guangzhou shipyard – one third smaller than the first, built in Shanghai

A second ship designed to launch and recover large underwater drones (UUVs) has appeared in China, according to an analysis by The War Zone. The vessel was built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, a subsidiary of the state-owned group CSSC, at its facilities on Longxue Island, south-east of Guangzhou. A Planet Labs satellite image from October 2 shows it in a covered dock before launch, while photographs from the Chinese internet reveal its shape and features.

The new ship has almost the same shape as the first, which was built by Hudong-Zhonghua on Changxing Island in Shanghai and appeared about a month earlier, but it is roughly a third smaller and has small changes to the hull. It has six lifting towers in total, whereas the Shanghai ship has six large and six smaller ones. The towers raise and lower the vehicles into the water and between the ship’s levels.

What the two ships share

Both have a stern gate with an internal dock for launching a few very large or many smaller UUVs, as well as a helideck with a hangar behind the forward superstructure, whose use is not known.

The War Zone’s editor Tyler Rogoway notes that two ships may still have a mostly experimental role, but a larger fleet would have “growing tactical and even strategic significance”. A fleet dedicated to deploying and recovering UUVs would be, he writes, a “significant indication of how important China considers UUV operations to its future strategy”.

There are rumours of a wider programme with more ships, while the US, according to the same analysis, has nothing comparable and launching large UUVs remains for it a “work in progress”.

Why large UUVs matter

Large, long-range UUVs can map the seabed, track submarines and ships, locate mines, launch cruise missiles and drones, or even operate as strategic weapons, with possible targets including American bases in the Pacific or even the American coast, as the analysis points out. China publicly showed the very large AJX002 underwater drones at its September 2025 parade in Beijing.

The appearance of the second ship coincides with increased activity of Chinese vessels around Taiwan, where the Coast Guard drove away 16 Chinese vessels, among them research ships, while Taipei is itself investing in American unmanned craft.