The Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) will organize some warships, which carried out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast, to hold open day activities in their named cities around the fourth anniversary of the escort that falls on December 26, 2012, the reporter learnt from a related department under the PLA Navy.
Four escort warships, namely, the "Qingdao" guided missile destroyer of the 11th Chinese naval escort taskforce, the "Zhoushan" guided missile frigate that conducted escort missions with the 3rd and the 7th Chinese naval escort taskforces, and the "Shenzhen" and "Guangzhou" guided missile destroyers that carried out escort missions with the 2nd and the 5th Chinese naval escort taskforces, will be open to the public this time at the ports of the cities they are named after. Besides, all the four warships will carry one helicopter and ten commandoes who will be armed with light arms and special operation equipment for diving, reconnaissance, communication and protection, etc.
The warship open day activities will be held in the form of issuing tickets to Party and government organs, enterprises and public institutions, schools and public organizations, etc. in the related cities. During the activities, residents can not only visit the warships and have "zero-distance" contacts with the escort warships, helicopters and special operation equipment, but also have an opportunity to watch anti-piracy demonstration by the commandoes on the ships.