Qingdao Naval Base (Qingdao Naval Base)

Qingdao Naval Base is a People's Liberation Army Navy installation in Qingdao, Shandong province, on China's Yellow Sea coast. It is the headquarters of the North Sea Fleet, which since the 2016 theatre command reorganisation also functions as the Northern Theater Command Navy and provides naval forces to that command. The fleet is commanded by a vice admiral, with a political commissar of equivalent rank.

The North Sea Fleet's headquarters element is at Yuchi Naval Base in Qingdao; Jianggezhuang Naval Base, on the coast east of the city, is the fleet's other principal facility. The fleet operates the aircraft carrier Liaoning, China's first, along with nuclear-powered attack and ballistic missile submarines. It was the first PLAN fleet to operate destroyers, shore-based missile units and nuclear submarines, though force modernisation priority has since shifted toward the East and South Sea Fleets. Fleet responsibility covers the Yellow Sea and Bohai approaches.

The Qingdao Army Base was redesignated a naval base in September 1950. After the Soviet Navy withdrew from Lüshunkou (Port Arthur), the North Sea Fleet was formed in 1960 around naval bases at Qingdao and Lüshunkou, with Qingdao as fleet headquarters.