More than 40 naval vessels will join a grand international fleet around April 23 in a display to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, a PLA officer said Friday.

The navies of 15 countries have pledged to send ships to the east port city of Qingdao as part of the celebrations and at least 28 foreign countries will send delegations, said the officer with the Navy's headquarters.

The parade will be staged off Qingdao, the Navy's North Sea Fleet's headquarters in Shandong Province.

The celebrations will include seminars attended by senior officers from different navies, technical communication aboard multinational warships and also a sampan race.

The Navy's headquarters refused to identify any Chinese warships or submarines joining the display. However, deputy commander of the North Sea Fleet Wang Fushan said at the annual session of China's legislature last month that na unprecedented display of the PLA's sophisticated warships was expected.

The PLA Navy was founded on April 23, 1949 with nine warships and 17 boats obtained after a unit of the Kuomintang's second coastal defense fleet defected to the Communists.

The celebrations will be an opportunity for foreign navies to have intensive and close observation of the PLA Navy's facilities and personnel.

The Navy's two destroyers and one supply ship set a historical sail on Dec. 26 to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the Somali coast to protect merchant vessels against spreading piracy.

On Thursday, the Navy deployed another task force consisting of two warships to relieve the two destroyers after a three-month escort mission in the region, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which about 1,000 Chinese vessels pass through each year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)