A model of Dong Fang Hong-3 (DFH-3) is displayed at an exhibition in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province on October 24, 2018. Photo: VCG

The world's largest silent research vessel built by China was officially put into use on Thursday, which will pave the way for the cultivation of innovative deep-sea talent and ocean science study.

Dong Fang Hong-3 (DFH-3) has obtained the highest underwater radiated noise level certificate from DNV GL (the world's largest classification society in Norway), making it the world's largest silent comprehensive marine research vessel, Wu Gang, the chief designer of the vessel and an expert at the 708th Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, told the Dazhong Daily on Thursday.

"When DFH-3 dives under water, fish 20 meters away do not notice it," Wu said.

According to Wu, the vessel's low-noise control indicator has reached the highest level worldwide. The measured weight of the empty ship was reduced by 0.6 percent compared with the initial estimate, and the height of the center of gravity was slightly decreased after the official tilt test of DFH-3 was completed.

"This shows that the project team has mastered the key technology: weight and center-of-gravity control of empty vessels," Wu noted, as a research vessel normally has a relatively small displacement and the weight adjustment space of an empty ship is limited.

DFH-3 has a newly designed air conditioning system that ensures the highest hygiene level for laboratories of research vessels.

The time spent to design and construct a research vessel is four to six years, several times longer than that of commercial ships, and much more workload is involved, such as program demonstration, interface coordination, equipment custom design, and layout optimization adjustments, Chen Ningning, one of the major designers of DFH-3, told Dazhong Daily.

"DFH-3 will build a training platform for improving the quality of talent and conduct a investigation of deep ocean science," an expert from the Ocean University of China, one of the designers of the project, told the Global Times on condition of anonymity.