The aircraft carrier "Varyag", which the mainland purchased from foreign countries, became the first aircraft carrier on the mainland, the Liaoning, after being modified.
In fact, the mainland has purchased a total of 4 aircraft carriers from abroad, the first of which is the Melbourne, known as the "destroyer cutter". Its legendary experience, no aircraft carrier has experienced.
It was originally made in Britain and sold to Australia after World War II.
From 1957 to 1976, during the 19 years of service, the Melbourne aircraft carrier not only failed to achieve anything, but instead crashed the two destroyers it escorted into two pieces, causing 155 officers and men to sink into the sea and die.
Since then, it has also collided with merchant ships, cargo ships, and passenger ships, with a total of 7 collisions, as well as a fire and boiler explosion accident.
The Melbourne became a nightmare for the Australian Navy and was decommissioned early.
Australia dismantled it into an empty shell and wanted to sell it as scrap iron. But many countries sent people around and left, and only a Chinese shipbreaking company was willing to pay $1.5 million.
The ominous ship was dismantled into scrap iron and sold for a good price, Australia was secretly happy, and the Western countries thought that Chinese stupid money.
In 1985, the Melbourne, which had been dismantled into an empty shell, entered the Pearl River port. The Navy expert boarded the ship and opened the hatch, and found two treasures that had not been removed, even if it was 10 times the price, it could not be bought!
What were the two treasures found on the USS Melbourne?
What role has it brought to the mainland's aircraft carrier cause?
1. The mother of the "Melbourne" is the United Kingdom
Before the Melbourne came to Australia, its mother's home was Britain. Originally called the Solemn, it was a light aircraft carrier specially produced by the British in response to World War II.
Aircraft carriers are powerful because they can be seen as an airfield moving in the sea, and the carrier and its carrier-based aircraft are formed by a battle group that can exert military pressure on other countries far from home.
The first to try this form was the United States, followed by the United Kingdom. In 1912, the British Navy converted three ferries into warships that could carry seaplanes, which was the earliest prototype of an aircraft carrier.
In world war I, Britain, the only one with a seaplane carrier, took the lead in the war. Britain, which has tasted the sweetness, has stepped up the upgrading and transformation of aircraft carriers.
Based on the problems found in the actual operation, the British Navy modified a cruiser named "Rage", removed the superstructure of the ship, and laid a 70-meter-long deck for the aircraft to take off. However, if the plane wants to return, it is very difficult to land on the aircraft carrier, and it can only land on the airfield on land.
Pictured: The cruiser Rage
In 1918, the British Navy began to build a pure aircraft carrier "Athletic". At the end of world war I, the demand for aircraft carriers was no longer urgent, and the construction of this aircraft carrier was very slow. Accidentally, Japan preempted it and created the world's first purebred aircraft carrier "Fengxiang".
In World War II, aircraft carriers were widely used for the first time and became the protagonists of the Pacific theater, showing great power. From the Japanese pearl attack on Pearl Harbor to the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, there are aircraft carriers.
For example, in 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea between the United States and Japan was the first long-distance operation of an aircraft carrier in the history of war. The two fleets had not met from beginning to end, and the victory and defeat had already been divided. Countries were shocked by this new naval approach to warfare and attached importance to the manufacture of aircraft carriers.
As a result, the British Navy decided to upgrade the aircraft carrier again, and began planning to build 16 Giant-class aircraft carriers.
The Giant-class aircraft carrier is a light aircraft carrier suitable for all large shipyards to manufacture. After the completion of 10 aircraft carriers, the remaining 6 aircraft carriers were upgraded to the "dignity class", and the equipment parameters such as displacement, aircraft capacity and artillery were improved.
Pictured: Giant-class aircraft carrier
The predecessor of the Melbourne, the Solemn, is one of the ship number R77 in the production plan of six Dignity class aircraft carriers.
Britain's aircraft carrier production plan was only to deal with World War II, and it was not intended to make these small aircraft carriers serve for a long time. In order to speed up production and reduce costs, the hull of the ship was actually used in ordinary steel plates, only to be dismantled and scrapped at the end of World War II.
When Dignity was launched in February 1945, victory was already in sight, and Britain's need for aircraft carriers was not so urgent. By the time Japan surrendered in August 1945, all six Dignity-class ships had ceased to be outfitted.
Britain's economy is sluggish, can no longer afford the huge cost of aircraft carriers, only retain large tonnage, aircraft carriers with modification conditions, light aircraft carriers intend to sell or dismantle.
Hearing this, the British little brother Australia, after independence, also wanted to strengthen its naval strength, so he proposed that he wanted to buy one.
Pictured: "Melbourne" predecessor "Solemn"
The Englishman was very happy to hear this, and happily agreed; 10 pounds to sell to you.
Finally, with the addition of armaments, Australia paid britain $8.3 million. Britain not only threw off a burden, but also took the opportunity to make a profit.
In 1949, after australia and Britain reached a sale and purchase agreement, the British demanded that Australia's request be further transformed on the "Solemn". It was not until 1955 that the Solemn was renamed the Melbourne and handed over to Australia.
Unexpectedly, the "Melbourne" aircraft carrier not only did not enhance the combat effectiveness of the Australian Navy, but became a hot potato.
2, after arriving in Australia, it became a "destroyer cutter"
In April 1956, the Australian Navy drove the "Melbourne", equipped with steam catapults, radar and other advanced equipment, and drove it to many countries to show off, sailing for a full year before arriving in Sydney Harbour, Australia.
This majestic behemoth, as tall as a dozen floors, can carry 40 aircraft. Australia attaches great importance to it, equipped with three squadrons of fighters, with air combat, sea and ground attack capabilities.
In an interview with the media, the captain of the "Melbourne" proudly said that the "Melbourne" can take off and land jets during the day and at night, which cannot be done by any other country except Australia.
Australia had hoped that the Melbourne would bring modern combat power to the Navy. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a "destroyer cutter", which knocked two destroyers into two pieces.
Just a year and a half after the Melbourne arrived in Australia, it ran into a small disaster.
Collided with the battleship "Blue Card" in the port of Adelaide, fortunately only suffered a small bump.
A few years later, the Melbourne began its life as a bumper ship.
The first collision with the destroyer was on February 10, 1964. The USS Melbourne collided with its own escort ship, the Destroyer. The Navigator destroyer was smashed into two pieces, killing 82 officers and men on board.
Pictured: The injured "Melbourne"
However, after investigation, the responsibility for the accident is not in the "Melbourne". It was the destroyer captain who seriously derelicted his duties, causing the destroyer to yaw into the channel of the "Melbourne", causing the collision of the two ships. The Melbourne was also hit hard, with several holes in the ship's side and cable compartment.
Since then, after a break, the "Melbourne" has visited many countries and participated in many military exercises in the Pacific region.
In the autumn of 1967, the "Melbourne" aircraft carrier went to the United States for a two-year modernization and upgraded its weapons and electronic systems.
Not long after returning to Australia, they collided with an American destroyer, knocking each other in two.
On June 3, 1969, Australia and the United States conducted the "Siren Joint Exercise" in the South China Sea.
The Melbourne suddenly collided with the US destroyer USS Evans. The "Evans" sank on the spot, and the captain who was sleeping soundly sank into the sea with a half-cut hull in his dream. Of the 273 crew members on board, 73 were tragically killed.
The main person responsible for the accident was the sinking "Evans". At the time of the incident, the captain of the "Evans" was sleeping, and the officers on duty were two rookies, who drove the destroyer into the channel of the aircraft carrier, causing the two ships to collide.
The U.S. military was dumbfounded and canceled the military exercise.
Within five years, the two destroyers were smashed into two pieces, resulting in the deaths of nearly 155 officers and men, and the aircraft carrier Melbourne was called the "destroyer cutter".
After this accident, the "Melbourne" had several small collisions, a fire, a boiler explosion.
Five months after the boiler explosion, the radomes of the Melbourne, which was traveling in the Pacific Ocean, suddenly fell into the sea. The Shanghai army quickly organized personnel to salvage, and after fishing for half a day, they did not see half a shadow of the radome.
The Australian Navy completely lost confidence in it.
In the past 20 years, the "Melbourne" has not only not increased the combat effectiveness of its own navy and publicized its national prestige, but has run into trouble everywhere and decided to let the "Melbourne" retire in one fell swoop.
In May 1982, in the Battle of the Falklands, the British Navy's nuclear submarine "Conquest" sank an Argentine cruiser, frightening an aircraft carrier into hiding in the military harbor and afraid to come out.
Australia believes that the role of aircraft carriers is not as good as before, and decided to get rid of the hot potato "Melbourne".
In 1982, the Australian Navy decided to retire it.
In order to prevent other countries from learning the technology on this aircraft carrier, Australia dismantled all the equipment and sold it as scrap steel. The Melbourne lost its former prestige, leaving only an empty shell and becoming a veritable ship.
When news broke out in Australia that it wanted to sell the ship for millions of dollars, many countries thought it was a loss-making deal.
Only China showed a willingness to buy, sending a delegation willing to bid $1.5 million.
This news made Australia secretly happy, and western countries secretly ridiculed, is China stupid and willing to pay so much money to buy a pile of scrap iron?
Unexpectedly, this broken ship actually brought surprises to China.
3, China bought a ruined ship with huge money, and the West secretly ridiculed it
As we all know, China has purchased a total of 4 aircraft carriers, and the "Melbourne" is the first aircraft carrier purchased by China.
In 1985, the Shipyard in Guangzhou, China, bought the "Melbourne" for $1.5 million in the name of steelmaking, and the "Melbourne" was dismantled into an empty shell and could not sail on its own. China had to use a few tugboats to drag it across thousands of miles to come to China.
When the abandoned ship was towed into the mouth of the Pearl River, the Naval Equipment Research Institute of the Naval Armament Department dispatched more than 30 personnel from different professions to form an inspection team and quickly went to the shipbreaking factory to visit, which was the first time that the mainland had studied the aircraft carrier at close range.
In fact, as early as the early 1970s, China had the idea of developing aircraft carriers. At that time, some powerful countries with developed navies bullied China and occupied many territories in the Indian Ocean and The Pacific Ocean. China's maritime sovereignty crisis has made national leaders understand that only by building a strong navy and having its own aircraft carriers can it not be bullied.
In 1970, Liu Huaqing, commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, wrote the mainland's first engineering report on the construction of an aircraft carrier. He once said: If China does not develop aircraft carriers, I will not be blinded.
In May 1980, Liu Huaqing, then chief of staff, saw the true face of this national heavy weapon for the first time, at the San Diego Naval Base in the United States, visiting the aircraft carrier "Kitty Hawk".
After General Liu Huaqing returned to China, he immediately promoted the aircraft carrier pre-research plan and began a comprehensive theoretical model construction and analysis. He understood that even if he started research now, it would take at least 25 to 30 years to build an aircraft carrier.
In 1985, two major events occurred, the first was that at the request of Admiral Liu Huaqing, the Naval Guangzhou Naval Academy began aircraft carrier-related personnel training. The second big thing was the purchase of the "Melbourne".
In the Pacific War of World War 2, aircraft carriers showed great power. Whoever owns it is the hegemon of the world.
China naturally wants to have such a national heavy weapon, but the Western countries led by the United States have imposed a technological blockade on the mainland.
When China buys aircraft carriers, it is always blocked by the United States and other Western countries, demanding that all equipment on board must be dismantled before it can be sold. I just don't want China to learn about aircraft carrier manufacturing.
With our economic strength at that time, buying or relying on our own research and development was not only extremely expensive, but also quite long.
The Melbourne, which has become a wrecked ship, is a pile of broken copper and iron for other countries. However, for the mainland, it is not willing to give up any opportunity to observe and study the aircraft carrier at close range.
The $1.5 million purchase of an empty hull would greatly speed up our understanding of aircraft carriers, so the mainland thinks it's a good deal.
After the researchers boarded the ship, this light aircraft carrier also brought a huge shock to everyone on the scene.
They measured one cabin at a time, recorded the various dimensions of the ship, and drew drawings. Video recordings were also taken so that more detailed research could be conducted in the future.
During the dismantling and research of the Melbourne, the accidental discovery of two treasures made the naval researchers ecstatic.
Some people even cheered: with these two treasures, the development time of the mainland's aircraft carrier is at least 5 years ahead!
4. Two treasures were found on the broken ship
Researchers found two important devices on board the ship.
The first device was on the deck of the ship, with a thick, long steel cable that spanned the deck. This steel cable is the blocking cable on the flight deck.
Although the technology content of the blocking cable is not high, it is an important object on the aircraft carrier.
In the past, fixed-wing aircraft could not be landed on aircraft carriers because the deck was too short and the speed of the aircraft was too fast, and if they were not careful, the aircraft would rush into the sea. Aircraft carriers equipped with blocking cables can not only take off and land helicopters, but also take off and land fixed-wing aircraft with more powerful combat effectiveness, which greatly enhances the combat effectiveness of aircraft carrier battle groups.
Another important piece of equipment is the steam catapult.
It is powered by the steam of the aircraft carrier's steam turbine, which catapults the fighter and takes off. With this device, carrier-based aircraft take off around the clock on a shorter deck, unaffected by bad weather, and there is no need to deliberately reduce the amount of ammunition and fuel on the aircraft to reduce the weight of the aircraft.
Pictured: Steam catapult
This ensures that in the event of an emergency, the fighter with bloody combat power can take off at the first time. Greatly improved, the attack power of the aircraft carrier.
So far, the United States is the only country in the world that can produce catapults. After the mainland navy researchers investigated, they understood their principles.
The discovery of these two treasures made the previous countries regret it, and the United States began to publicly accuse Australia of selling aircraft carriers.
During a short expedition of dozens of days, naval researchers saw for the first time what the main structure of a modern aircraft carrier and the main equipment on board looked like.
The "Melbourne", which is regarded as a broken child by the Western countries of the United States, has inadvertently become a stepping stone for the development of China's aircraft carriers.
The Melbourne was dismantled nine months later and used as a steelmaking material.
Some people may ask, why didn't the mainland directly transform Melbourne into its own aircraft carrier?
6. The mainland bought 4 aircraft carriers, why did only one of them become a "Liaoning ship"?
The mainland has purchased a total of 4 aircraft carriers from abroad, and only the 4th Varyag has been transformed into the mainland's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning".
The first is the "Melbourne", a small aircraft carrier that has been in service for more than 40 years and has a displacement of only more than 20,000 tons, and the construction technology has lagged behind.
The key equipment on the Melbourne has basically been dismantled, we do not have its design drawings, and it will face many difficulties to renovate. If the mainland navy wants to transform it, it will not only squeeze out valuable funds, but also fail to meet the mainland's demand for modern aircraft carriers.
However, as the first aircraft carrier to introduce China, although it is an empty shell, it also allows us to avoid many detours on the aircraft carrier road, in the shortest time, from imitation to independent research and development stage.
In addition to the "Melbourne", the other three aircraft carriers are all legacy of the former Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries that inherited these aircraft carriers did not have enough economic strength to maintain them, and could only sell them as scrap iron.
The second aircraft carrier is the "Minsk", which is the second generation aircraft carrier of the former Soviet Union "Kiev" 2.
The "Kiev" class aircraft carrier can only be regarded as a kind of "heavy aircraft cruiser", and it is not a real aircraft carrier. Because the cruisers of the former Soviet Union could not provide reliable protection for the aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier was equipped with a large number of missile-like weapons to protect itself, but it did not install a real aircraft carrier, steam catapults that should be equipped, and a ski-jump deck, which could only carry vertical take-off and landing aircraft, so it was not a real aircraft carrier.
Pictured: "Minsk"
In 1978, the Minsk began service in the Navy and was taken over by Russia after 1991. Because Russia could not afford the huge maintenance costs, it could only be retired early. The Minsk only served for 14 years, while the aircraft carrier generally lasted about 40 years.
The Minsk is a medium-sized aircraft carrier with a displacement of 36,000 tons and can carry more than 30 fighters. Its fleet of warplanes once flaunted its might in the Pacific. It also has a lot of ties with China. In 1979, when the Sino-Vietnamese conflict broke out, the Minsk cruised near the South China Sea, and the former Soviet Union used it to scare China and support Vietnam.
In 1993, Russia sold it to South Korea, asking to cut it into two square meters of steel plate that could not be used for military purposes. After the Asian financial crisis in 1997, South Korea sold to a Chinese company for $5.3 million.
Later, the "Minsk" settled in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, and was transformed into a military theme park.
The third aircraft carrier is the "Kiev", the no. 1 ship of the "Kiev" class of the former Soviet Union, and the big brother of the "Minsk". The two ships are of the same class, and the construction time and retirement time are similar.
Both aircraft carriers are because of the design thinking of the former Soviet Union, pay attention to the heavy armament of the aircraft carrier itself, can go to sea to fight alone, but the carrier-based aircraft is far behind, and the combat effectiveness in the air is quite limited.
In 1999, a company in mainland China bought the "Kiev" for 70 million yuan. When the Kiev was transported to China, all of its equipment was dismantled, leaving only an empty shell.
These two brother aircraft carriers have no transformation value because of their own defects. The Kiev was later settled in Tianjin and was transformed into an aircraft carrier-themed hotel in Tianjin.
Pictured: The "Kiev" aircraft carrier theme park in Tianjin
The fourth aircraft carrier is the predecessor of the Liaoning, the Varyag
The Varyag was one of the first true aircraft carriers, designed and developed entirely to the standards of modern aircraft carriers.
With a length of 306 meters, a width of 69 meters and a displacement of 65,000 tons, varyag is a large aircraft carrier. It already has the appearance of a modern aircraft carrier, with a 12-degree upward sliding jump angle and can carry 39 carrier-based aircraft.
In 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Varyag was owned by Ukraine. At that time, it had been built nearly 70%, and Ukraine could not afford the remaining $200 million needed for the project, so it had to abandon it in the shipyard for a long time. Russia has also offered to buy it, but the price between the two sides has not been negotiated.
In 1997, a Chinese company came forward to buy the Varyag for $20 million in the name of Maritime Entertainment City. The United States pressed Ukraine, which dismantled all of the Varyag's equipment and sold it an empty shell to China.
Pictured: The Varyag dismantled into an empty shell
While passing through the Black Sea, the United States also instigated Turkey to demand 1 billion tolls.
On 3 March 2002, the Varyag arrived at the port of Dalian. Originally, it only took about 100 days of voyages, but it took 627 days.
Fortunately, we got all the drawings of the Varyag, plus the Varyag is a semi-finished product that is mostly completed, and the transformation of it not only reduces the risk of starting, but also accumulates experience.
Therefore, the Varyag is the most suitable for modification among the four motherships we import.
Pictured: The "Liaoning" aircraft carrier
In 2012, the first aircraft carrier on the mainland, the Liaoning, was remodeled by the Varyag and officially entered service. Five years later, the first domestic aircraft carrier on the mainland, the Shandong warship, was officially launched.
From buying back the first empty-shell aircraft carrier "Melbourne" to the domestic aircraft carrier Shandong, the mainland's aircraft carrier road has gone 32 years.
For 32 years, in the face of western technological blockades, Chinese find treasure from the rags, greatly shortening the time to realize the dream of an aircraft carrier.
It is precisely because we are not afraid of difficulties and seize all opportunities for development that we have today's powerful navy!