By Li Mingyu and Lin Fei

QI JIGUANG SHIP, Oct. 14 (ChinaMil) -- Chinese naval training ship Qi Jiguang (Hull 83), which is carrying out a two-month ocean-going training and visit mission, crossed an important strait, the Torres Strait on Sunday.

The Torres Strait is an important waterway connecting the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific. It is about 150 nautical miles long, with its narrowest point being only about 500 meters wide. There are many islands, coral reefs and shoals in the strait and only a few navigable narrow waterways. This is the most difficult waters to go during this mission.

October 13 coincided with the spring tide. Officers and soldiers took this opportunity and piloted the ship to cross the complicated Prince of Wales waterway with a low speed, training the maneuvering capability of its cadets in real-time practice. 

The teaching group also organized training on navigation safety assurance capabilities , during which the interning cadets practiced to make use of a variety of navigation instruments such as the compass orientation instrument, the sextant, and the navigation radar to conduct the landmark positioning observation training, and performed real-time nautical chart operation as well.