[9] Originally laid down in 1985 for the Soviet Navy as the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Riga, she was launched on 4 December 1988 and renamed Varyag in 1990.

[10] The Kuznetsov-class ships were originally designated by the Soviet Navy as "тяжёлый авианесущий крейсер" (tyazholiy avianesushchiy kreyser, TAKR or TAVKR), meaning "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser".

In addition to aircraft, the ships were designed to carry P-700 Granit anti-ship cruise missiles that also form the main armament of the Kirov-class battlecruisers.

Under the Montreux Convention, aircraft carriers larger than 15,000 tons are not permitted to pass through the Straits, but there is no displacement limit on other types of capital ships from Black Sea powers.

[18] In 1998, the rusting hulk was sold at auction for $20 million to Agencia Turistica E Diversões Chong Lot Limitada, a company from Macau.

In January 2015, further details emerged in an interview with Hong Kong-based businessman Xu Zengping by the South China Morning Post.

Xu, a former military basketball player, reported that he had been commissioned by the PLAN to purchase the vessel on its behalf, with the floating hotel and casino as a cover story.

The tugboat operator compared its fate to the Yellow Fleet that was stuck in the Suez Canal for eight years, and French thrillseekers even landed a helicopter on the ship.

[23][24] The Suez Canal does not permit passage of "dead" ships – those without an on-board power source – so the hulk was towed through the Strait of Gibraltar, around Pointe des Almadies and the Cape of Good Hope, past Cape Agulhas and into the Indian Ocean and through the Straits of Malacca at an average speed of 6 knots (11 km/h; 6.9 mph) across the 15,200-nautical-mile (28,200 km; 17,500 mi) journey.

The tugboat fleet called for supplies en route at Piraeus, Greece; Las Palmas, Canary Islands; Maputo, Mozambique; and Singapore.

Her hull was sandblasted, scaffolding erected, and the ship's island was painted in a red marine primer to treat metal corrosion.

[32] In 2018, Asia Times reported that Sun Bo, a general manager of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, had allegedly passed on technical details of Liaoning to the Central Intelligence Agency.

[46] In December 2016 the ship exercised in the Western Pacific, including passing through the Miyako Strait between the Japanese islands of Miyako-jima and Okinawa.

[47][48] On 18 April 2018, Liaoning took part in the navy's live-fire exercises in the South China Sea, involving 76 fighter jets and 48 warships and submarines.

The U.S. Department of Defense noted that J-15s will have below normal range and armament when operating from the carrier, due to limits imposed by the ski-jump takeoff system.

[52] The lack of a carrier onboard delivery aircraft like the United States Navy (USN) Grumman C-2 Greyhound also limits logistics capabilities.

[53] Liaoning is visible on satellite imagery regularly berthed at a large jetty at the Yuchi Naval Base (near Huangdao) in China's Shandong province since 2013; this is reported as its home port.

[57] On 4 November 2012, the People's Liberation Army's website (Chinese: 中国军网) reported that Shenyang J-15s had performed carrier touch-and-go training.

[62][63] In August 2014, based on an article from Chinese state media, Western news outlets reported that two pilots had been killed testing jets slated to operate from Liaoning.

[64][65] Chinese military officials stated such reports were misleading, and clarified that deaths were in fact unrelated with tests on the carrier.

[68] On 5 April 2021, the aircraft carrier Liaoning, destroyers Chengdu, Taiyuan, Nanchang, frigate Huanggang and supply ship Hulunhu were spotted between Okinawa and Miyako Island.

[70] In May 2022, Liaoning and its carrier strike group conducted drills in the East China Sea and they were sighted near Miyako Island by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.

[72][73] On 14 October 2024, Chinese Eastern Theater Command spokesman Captain Li Xi confirmed that the Liaoning aircraft carrier group was taking part in the Joint Sword-2024B military exercises around Taiwan.