You'd think the propaganda boys of China's Ministry of National Defense would know the ships and aircraft of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) like the backs of their hands.

Turns out they don't, and a massively embarrassing photo-editing fail made the PLAN a laughing stock throughout China when it should have been proudly celebrating its 68th founding anniversary.

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To celebrate PLAN's 68th anniversary, the Ministry of National Defense created a marvelous official poster of the CNS Liaoning (CV-16), China's only aircraft carrier, showing this warship proudly cleaving the waves as three of its jet fighters soar overhead while another lifts-off from its ski-jump flight deck.

To the starboard of the Liaoning are two escorting PLAN warships.There are also two barely discernible submarines beneath the waves.

Above the three soaring fighters that have just taken-off from he carrier is the slogan, "Happy birthday, People's Liberation Army Navy!" in simplified Chinese.

Unfortunately for PLAN, the only thing correct in the poster is the image of the Liaoning and the slogan.

The fighters and the warships are all wrong.

It didn't take long for online pundits familiar with the PLAN and world navies in general to note three massive errors in the images of the planes and the warships.

For one, the jet taking off from the Liaoning was identified as Russian-made Mikoyan MiG-35 air superiority fighter only flown by the Russian Air Force and the Egyptian Air Force. There are no MiG-35s in service with either the PLAN or the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).

Worse, the three jets in formation above the Liaoning are Chengdu J-10 multi-role combat jets flown only by the PLAAF from land air bases. There are no navalized versions of the J-10.

Liaoning only flies the Shenyang J-15 multi-role fighter, the only naval fighter in the entire PLAN.

Worst of all, the two warships escorting Liaoning aren't even PLAN warships. Some eagle-eyed pundits said this duo don't resemble any PLAN warship in service. Others identified both of these warships as U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships.

Pundits were merciless on Chinese social media.

"This picture shows everyone at the propaganda department is mentally deficient," scathingly remarked one critic on Chinese social media site Weibo.

"The officials are wrong! Go die! We are so patriotic in vain!" said another.

So much for a patriotic anniversary.