The Dong Fang Hong 3 Research Vessel is a new-generation, comprehensive research vessel independently designed and built in China. Delivered and commissioned in June 2019, it incorporates key specifications that rank at an internationally advanced level. Its underwater radiated noise, an indicator of a vessel’s overall research capability, meets the requirements of DNV GL’s highest SILENT-R class notation, making it the first Chinese vessel and currently the largest in the world to obtain this certificate. To date, it has sailed more than 240,000 nautical miles and completed 24 scientific survey cruises, with tracks spanning the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, and the western Pacific. It has achieved multiple breakthroughs, including China’s first acquisition of seawater and sediment samples from depths of 10,000 meters; successful multidisciplinary comprehensive investigations in ultra-deep waters of 10,000 meters; and China’s first deployment and recovery of a 10,000-meter-class underwater glider.
