Fan Yukang (1922-2011), a native of Xuyi, Jiangsu Province, joined the revolution in November 1939 and joined the Communist Party of China in the same year. He once served as secretary of the district party committee, political commissar of Changzhou warship, captain of Anshan ship, commander of Qingdao Marine Police District, director of the "719 Research Institute" (responsible for the development of nuclear submarines), deputy chief of staff of the navy and director of the operations department, and was one of the founders of the new Chinese navy.
One of the thirteen cadres who formed the New Chinese Navy
At 00:00 on April 20, 1949, a million male divisions went up from the mouth of the Jiujiang Lake to Jiangyin, and thousands of sails were fired, and ten thousand cannons were fired in unison, breaking through the natural dangers of the Yangtze River and directly pounding the old nest of the Kuomintang. On the evening of the 21st, Fan Yukang, deputy instructor of the Sanye Reconnaissance Battalion, who was organizing forces to attack Jiangxinzhou, suddenly received an order to go to Taizhou to attend the naval preparatory meeting. At 1:30 p.m. on April 23, Commander Zhang Aiping and 13 comrades who had begun to form a navy gathered at the Taizhou White Horse Temple. Zhang Aiping presided over the meeting, and after roll call, she said solemnly: "Now, I announce the meeting. Comrades, remember this day , April 23, 1949 , when the People's Navy was finally born!......。 Amid the rumbling artillery fire of the Battle of the Crossing River, the Navy of the East China Military Region was proclaimed, marking that the Chinese people had their own navy from then on.
That evening, Fan Yukang was ordered to cross the river and devote himself to the preparations for taking over Shanghai. On May 11, the Shanghai Municipal Naval Takeover Department was established, with Zhang Aiping concurrently serving as the takeover minister, under which there were 7 takeover groups of military, political engineering, ships, hydrographic survey bureau, Wu Song, factory and Jiangnan Shipbuilding Institute. May 25. The takeover department moved from Suzhou to downtown Shanghai. Fan Yukang's Hydrographic Bureau took over group of 7 people, and the target was the former Kuomintang Naval Hydrographic Bureau. Fan Yukang and his comrades were preparing for the establishment of a printing plant and at the same time organizing a personnel organization. Through door-to-door inquiries, it was learned that there were more than 50 people left in Shanghai by the Haidao Survey Bureau, including more than 30 engineering and technical personnel and more than 10 workers. After patient and meticulous work, these personnel were willing to serve the new China, so the Naval Hydrographic Bureau soon resumed its work in an all-round way, and on June 14, it issued the first ship bulletin after the liberation of Shanghai to ensure navigation safety; in early July, the Yangtze River waterway map was officially published and distributed, and Fan Yukang and others were commended by their superiors.
The flagship of the Republic Navy, captain of the Anshan ship
The People's Navy, founded in 1949, was almost self-made, and Commander Zhang Aiping's entire home was only 13 people, including Fan Yukang, plus 3 American jeeps. Commander Zhang immediately published news in the newspaper to recruit former Kuomintang naval personnel and set up registration offices in Qingdao, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Guangzhou to recruit soldiers. Soon, the Nanjing Naval School was established, and Fan Yukang became the first batch of cadets. After three months of political study and business training, Fan Yukang was assigned to the Changzhou warship as political commissar.
The Changzhou ship was an American transport ship during World War II, more than 900 tons, only cargo compartments, no guns. Fan Yukang led everyone to carry out a modification, installing the 105 howitzer used by the army in front as a naval gun, and changing the cargo compartment into an ammunition depot, a warehouse and an oil silo, and the equipment was very rudimentary. One day, while the Changzhou warship was being repaired, the Kuomintang sent planes from Taiwan to bomb it. Fan Yukang saw it very clearly, and the bomb was dropped, hitting the ship's ship and igniting a raging fire. He was so angry that he stomped his feet, but there was nothing he could do, and he was very sad that the Changzhou warship was forced to move upstream to Wuhan. At the former Bai Chongxi Villa in Wuhan, 28-year-old Fan Yukang anxiously said when he saw Xiao Jinguang, the first commander of the Navy, that the Navy must have air force support, otherwise the ship would be a living target for the enemy. After studying in Wuhan for more than two months, Fan Yukang returned to Nanjing to serve as the political commissar of the Xingguo warship, which was transformed from a merchant ship. Soon, he received the combat task: together with the Ruijin ship, he cooperated with the Army's 98th Division to liberate the Shengsi Islands. The battle was the first time since the establishment of the Navy to cooperate with the Army to attack the island, and it was also his first personal naval battle. Fan Yukang was calm and courageous, commanded the battleship to shoot a fierce shell at the enemy position on the island, causing the enemy to cry wolf and the corpses everywhere, completed the task brilliantly, and received meritorious service awards.
In February 1951, Fan Yukang became the captain of the Zunyi ship. He was the first army-turned-navy captain. He humbly studied ship management, astronomy, geography, ship art, weapon use and combat command, etc., from ship political commissar to captain, from captain to captain of the frigate brigade, came to the navy for more than 5 years and quickly became an excellent commander in the front line of the continental navy. In 1955, he was appointed captain of the Anshan, the flagship destroyer of the Continental Navy.
The Anshan was a large destroyer ordered by the mainland to the Soviet Union in 1954, used as an incubator for building a strong navy, the flagship of the Republic Navy, and received heads of state, heads of government and military delegations from nine countries, and was the symbol of the Chinese Navy. Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, He Long, Dong Biwu, Peng Dehuai, Ye Jianying, and Xiao Jinguang all inspected the ship. On this ship, Fan Yukang twice received Premier Zhou and listened to Premier Zhou's cordial teachings. Pointing to the sea, Premier Zhou said to the officers and men: "This is the gate of our country," and waved an inscription for the Anshan warship, and also asked Fan Yukangla about his family situation, and encouraged him to study hard, master the latest technology, and live up to the ardent hopes of Chairman Mao and the party Central Committee. After more than four years as captain and nearly five years as destroyer captain, Fan Yukang was promoted to commander of the Qingdao Marine Police District in 1964, where he worked until 1969. Since then, he has been in service at sea for a full twenty years.
Director of the "719 Research Institute", responsible for the development of nuclear submarines, the first nuclear submarine was successfully launched (see separate article)