Re: ... because she was already sold ...
Ex-Soviet carrier Varyag (ex-Riga) was sold by Ukraine to the Chong Lot Travel Company of Hong Kong in 1998. Varyag, the sister ship of Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov, had not been completed when the USSR collapsed, and ownership passed to Ukraine. They didn't want it, so sold it on to Chong Lot who wanted "to tow it to Macau and turn it into a floating casino" despite the Macau authorities stating there was no way they would let this rusting hulk foul up their nice clean harbour.
In a bizarre twist of fate, the ship was instead towed to the Dalian Naval Shipyard in north-east China, where the People's Liberation Army Navy set about completing it. It enetered service in the PLAN in 2012 as the Liaoning, and can now be used to threaten China's neighbours in the South China Sea.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
