TAIPEI — China launched its first domestically built aircraft carrier to begin sea trials on Sunday, another milestone in the expansion of its navy.

The carrier left the port of Dalian after a display of fireworks, state news media said.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy already had one carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought unfinished from Ukraine in 2012. It began operations four years later, putting China in the small group of seafaring powers that maintain aircraft carriers, led by the United States, which has 11.

The new unnamed carrier, built by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., has a similar design to the Liaoning’s but has been modified and expanded.

The Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, published a side-by-side comparison showing the new carrier was slightly longer and wider and saying that it can carry 32 to 36 J-15 fighter jets, compared with 24 aboard the Liaoning.

Both displace 50,000 tons. The newest US carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, displaces twice that and can carry 75 aircraft.

Unlike nuclear-powered US carriers, the two Chinese ships use conventional engines, limiting their range.

New York Times