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In 1935, there was a very large-scale conferment campaign in the system of the National Revolutionary Army, when there was a senior general in the regular army called general of the first rank. If you compare it with the rank level of our army, this is equivalent to the marshal moving average!
At the end of the awarding campaign, a total of nine people were awarded the rank of "general of the first class", of which eight people were from the army, but one person was special, he was from the navy, and was also awarded the rank of general of the first class, this person's name was Chen Shaokuan.
It should be said that this old father of Chen Shaokuan was once a sailor in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, because of the influence of his father, he made a lofty wish when he was a child and became a naval general who galloped across the sea.
As a result, he began to continuously improve his knowledge reserves and abilities, and when he grew up, he was successfully admitted to the well-known naval academy at that time - Jiangnan Marine Division Academy.
After Chen Shaokuan completed his studies, he became a young admiral, but at that time, the foundation and strength of China's navy were too weak, so that Chen Shaokuan had no ambitions but no place to play.
Later, during the First World War, he was sent to Europe by his superiors to conduct naval expeditions and studies.
Chen Shaokuan gained a lot during his study tour in the UK and opened his eyes, and witnessed the launch of the world's first aircraft carrier that can carry an attack aircraft.
Feeling that China is far from the West, he realized that the cooperation between the air and naval forces is the general trend of future development, so Chen Shaokuan has always proposed to the authorities after returning to China that we must form our own aircraft carrier fleet.
It's just a pity that at that time, our comprehensive national strength was too weak, as for these advanced "big guys" are not undesirable, they really can't afford it, but Chen Shaokuan is called the first person of China's aircraft carrier because of his advanced "aircraft carrier theory"!
During the First World War, the Beiyang authorities joined the Allies, because it belonged to the alliance, Chen Shaokuan could join the submarine force of the British Royal Navy by light, and also participated in the Battle of Jutland, it can be said that Chen Shaokuan was the only Chinese who participated in the European naval battle in World War I.
During the Northern Expedition, Chen Shaokuan had become the commander of the Beiyang Second Fleet, and he saw the situation and resolutely decided to revolt and start a war against Sun Chuanfang.
After the battle, Chen Shaokuan was awarded the "First Class Medal" and the "Mainstay of the Mainstream" by the National Authorities. After the establishment of the Naval Department, he was appointed Director of the Navy and awarded the rank of Lieutenant General.
After the outbreak of the "918 Incident", the ambitions of the little devils to invade China were exposed, and then they soon launched the "128 Incident", after which Chen Shaokuan advocated taking the initiative to go to sea to meet the enemy, but because of the "appeasement policy" of the old Chiang Kai-shek, it was stranded, and the navy was forbidden to go to war. Chen Shaokuan was extremely angry and repeatedly applied for resignation, but was rejected.
After the outbreak of the "July 7 Incident", little Japan used means to "suggest" Chen Shaokuan to remain neutral, otherwise the Japanese navy would take him over. Without saying a word, he directly prepared to fight with the little devil.
However, at that time, our naval strength was really inferior to that of the little devil, so Chen Shaokuan made an extremely tragic move, and painfully ordered all warships to sink from the bottom of the river to prevent the devil's navy from invading China's hinterland along the Yangtze River, which was called the "Battle of Jiangyin", and after this battle, the naval sequence of the National Revolutionary Army was completely lost.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Shaokuan once again represented the Chinese Navy to attend the ceremony of accepting Japan's unconditional surrender on the cruiser "Missouri" and witnessed the moment when Xu Yongchang signed it.
The little devil was beaten away, but the peace that Chen Shaokuan had hoped for did not come, and old Jiang was ready to start a civil war, and Chen Shaokuan was even more opposed to this, and as a result, he was dismissed.
In this regard, Chen Shaokuan did not linger on the high-ranking official Houlu, directly chose to return to his hometown to farm, and lived a leisurely life, until the founding of New China, Chen Shaokuan went out of the mountains again, and successively served as vice chairman of Fujian, vice governor and other provincial leadership positions, and in 1969, Chen Shaokuan died of illness at the age of 80.
References for this article: "Biography of the Beiyang Warlord", "Chen Shaokuan's Collected Writings", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - Chen Shaokuan, the first person of China's aircraft carriers, etc."