Zhanjiang Naval Base (South Sea Fleet)

Zhanjiang Naval Base is the headquarters of the Southern Theater Command Navy (STCN) of the People's Liberation Army Navy, on the southern Chinese coast facing the South China Sea. The STCN is the naval component of the Southern Theater Command and is responsible for coastal defence from Dongshan County westward and for Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea.

From Zhanjiang the STCN commands subordinate bases at Sanya and Guangzhou; the Sanya complex comprises Yulin Naval Base and Longpo Naval Base, the latter a submarine facility. Formations subordinate to the command include the 2nd and 9th Destroyer Zhidui (flotillas), the 11th Fastboat Dadui and a further fastboat zhidui, an operations support ship zhidui, the 8th and 9th Air Divisions, and the 1st and 164th Marine Brigades.

The site's naval lineage begins with the Guangdong Military Region Riverine Defense Command, formed in December 1949 from personnel of the 15th Army transferred by the Fourth Field Army. That command formed the nucleus of the South Central China Military Region Navy, established by the Fourth Field Army in December 1950, which in 1955 became the PLAN's South Sea Fleet. The fleet was redesignated the Southern Theater Command Navy in 2018 under the theater command structure.