China is updating its navy into the 21st century, and as part of that initiative, it’s adding a fleet of massive support ships to help stretch its limbs around the world. The latest and largest of these ships, the Guang Hua Kou, was launched last month at Guangdong Shipyard International. Heavy lift ships are designed to transport huge payloads  everything from other ships to oil drilling platforms and construction equipment– that are too big to carry on conventional shipping vessels. In order to load other ships, semi-submersible vessels like the Guang Hua Kou flood their ballast tanks to sink below the water’s surface and position their payload over the vessel’s submerged deck before pumping water out to lift the ship.

the Guang Hua Kou, was launched last month at Guangdong Shipyard International. Though the ship is formally built for COSCO Heavy Transport, a state-owned civilian firm, it will likely be made available for the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) for peace and wartime operations, reports Popular Science.

The Guang Hua Kou falls into a class of vessels known as heavy lift semi-submersible ships and, at 98,000 tons, it’s one of the biggest in existence. Heavy lift ships are designed to transport huge payloads  everything from other ships to oil drilling platforms and construction equipment– that are too big to carry on conventional shipping vessels.

In order to load other ships, semi-submersible vessels like the Guang Hua Kou flood their ballast tanks to sink below the water’s surface and position their payload over the vessel’s submerged deck before pumping water out to lift the ship. The Guang Hua Kou clocks at nearly 700 feet long and 225 feet wide, enabling it to carry ships as big as missile destroyers.

Useful as they may be for transport, heavy lift ships can also be deploys as portable docks and platforms which, as Popular Science suggests, can be used in offensive operations to should and launch helicopters, landing crafts, and surface ships.

Over the past six months, China has literally created a greater military presence in the South China Sea by constructing artificial islands, on which they’ve erected lighthouses and even landed airplanes. Though these disputed islands have heightened tensions with neighboring nations, the Guang Hua Kou’s launch suggests that China is still intent on flexing it’s naval strength.