After 2 p.m. on September 9, 1953, near Neilingling Island at the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, China, the weather was sunny, windy and sunny, but the scene on the river was not so beautiful.
Only to see a british gunboat that had lost its power was bubbling with billowing black smoke, floating on the surface of the Pearl River like a dead fish, the sailors on the boat fell to the ground horizontally and vertically, and even many people were bleeding and dying.
One of the sailors struggled to use communications equipment to deliver the message: The Chinese warships were firing at us! Come to the rescue! Come to the rescue!
What happened to this British gunboat? Why did the Chinese warships fire at them?
Location of Nei Ling Ling Island
An hour or two before the shelling, warships No. 3-141, belonging to the naval unit of the Central and Southern Military Region of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, set sail from Huangpu to Neilingling Island at the mouth of the Pearl River to perform routine daily training tasks.
Suddenly, an armed gunboat without a flag appeared on the river! The officers and men on board immediately went into a state of alert and lowered their speed to observe each other's movements.
But the gunboat seemed to be deliberately provocative, and after seeing the Chinese warship, instead of dodging and evading, it sped towards the 3-141 ship.
Zhang Yu, deputy commander of the First Fleet of the Navy of the Central And Southern Military Region, who was on board at the time, said to Cao Jinfa, an instructor of naval cadres of the military region who was accompanying him: "These 80% are British ships again!" See if this ship has entered our waters?! ”
"The gunboat has invaded our waters for more than 2 nautical miles!" After cao Jinfa checked the map and compared the location of the other party, he quickly gave his own answer. After hearing this result, Zhang Yu was very angry, "It's really deceiving people too much! ”
Gunboat ML1323
The British gunboats and aircraft already had a history of approaching and reconnaissance of our naval vessels. Not long ago, their media published detailed photographs of our Navy ships, and used them as a result to show off.
Will we let the British ride on our heads again? Zhang Yu was very unwilling, he clenched his fists, staring fiercely at the gunboat from far and near, his brain was also running at high speed, thinking about how to deal with this provocation.
The 3-141 warship was on a training mission at the time, and there were many other relatively young naval officers on board, all of whom were waiting for instructions from Zhang Yu, who was the deputy commander, to give.
As their predecessor, Zhang Yu must come up with a proper solution, which is not a matter of his personal face, but a major event related to the growth of the next generation of Republican Navy officers, because today's Zhang Yu's approach is likely to be an example for these young officers to emulate in the future!
In 1953, Mao Zedong inspected the naval forces
"Raise the International Signal Flag!" Let the opposing ship stop for inspection! Zhang Yu gave the first order. Soon the international K-shaped signal flag was raised on the mast, but the British gunboats ignored it and still approached our warships at high speed.
"The 25 caliber gun fired at the enemy ship!" Zhang Yu gave the second order. Three 25 mm shells then landed behind enemy ships, causing a splash of water.
At this time, the British gunboat finally had a new move, but instead of stopping the ship for inspection according to the requirements of our army, it tried to turn around and speed up the escape!
"Fight!" Zhang Yu's third command had only one word, but the weight was the heaviest. The 3-141 had already bitten the other side's two 76.2 mm guns and fired more than a dozen shells at the fleeing British gunboats.
The British gunboats were suddenly beaten to death, and billowing smoke stopped at the surface of the Pearl River. The British sailors who survived the boat began to regret it, why did they have to provoke the Chinese warship?
Lieutenant G. Merriman, a British officer in charge of commanding the gunboats, looked at his injured legs and right arm and regretted it too much, if he hadn't just given such an order!
Just an hour or two earlier, Merriman and his men had sailed british gunboats with the hull number ML1323 from the port of Tai O, Hong Kong, first from east to west, then turning northeast, heading upstream toward the inner side of the Pearl River estuary.
Along the way, the British sailors were lying on the side of the ship railings talking and laughing, admiring with great interest the coastal scenery that was very different from the British mainland, when Merriman shouted: Don't forget the patrol task!
Reluctantly, the sailors returned to their respective posts, and then a camera with a telescope was set up on the deck to take pictures of passing ships on the river.
Suddenly, the observer on the boat shouted loudly: Chinese warship! Chinese warships! Merriman looked happy and ordered: Drive full horsepower and get as close to the Chinese warship as possible! Take more photos!
The deputy accompanying him said: "Sir, there are Chinese waters in front of us, and isn't there a demand from above that we should try to avoid conflict with China?" ”
"What do you know? This is at sea, Hong Kong and our naval warships, and what do you think we've been doing with cameras? Isn't that what it's all about? ”
So the British gunboat was all in combat and headed for the Chinese warship.
Heavily damaged British gunboats
As the distance between the two sides drew closer, the atmosphere became tense. "Sir! The Chinese warship raised the signal flag and asked us to stop the ship for inspection! ”
"Joke, only we are qualified to let others stop the ship for inspection!" Leave him alone and move on! After Merriman gave this order, he also ran to the deck to operate the camera and clicked the shutter on the Chinese warship.
Merriman was very proud, because the task of collecting intelligence explained above was done well this time, and he might be promoted to a knight.
But soon, three shells from Chinese warships skimmed over Merriman's head and exploded around the gunboat. The splash of water provoked by the shell, although not very large, also awakened Merriman, who was intoxicated with victory.
Only then did he realize that he seemed a little out of line, so he hurriedly ordered, "Hurry up and turn around!" Leave quickly! Throw the Chinese warship away! ”
Damaged British gunboats
But the rest of the boat were apparently frightened by the machine guns that had just been fired by the Chinese warships, and upon hearing Merriman's order, they exclaimed in horror, "But sir! The other party is asking us to stop the ship for inspection! ”
"A bunch of fools! If you run away, it's over. Chinese just to scare and frighten us, the fundamental purpose is to drive us away. As soon as we walked away, they didn't dare to treat us like that! ”
Merriman had also heard of the "Purple Quartz" incident a few years ago, when a British warship traveling in the waters of the Yangtze River, the Purple Quartz, ignored the PLA's artillery warnings and insisted on sailing upstream, only to be seriously injured by the PLA's artillery.
He thought that he would not repeat the fate of the Purple Quartz under any circumstances, as long as he obediently left, there would be no incident, but Merriman would never think that it was his own clever "obedient departure" that made this small gunboat also stage the scene of the Purple Quartz.
British gunboats towed
Zhang Yu on the Chinese warship opposite, seeing the British gunboats trying to slip away, resolutely issued the order to open fire. At that time, the ships of our navy were very backward, equipped with only ordinary anti-aircraft machine guns and machine guns, and the best ones could be 2 76.2 mm guns, but it was still very useful against the British small gunboats equipped with only 40 mm guns.
After a few shells, Merriman's gunboat was crippled, the power unit and wheelhouse on the ship were destroyed, and Merriman himself was seriously injured.
The British soldiers tried to counterattack, but they were quickly suppressed by our army, and their artillery was successfully destroyed. A British soldier named Gordon Clover tried his best to fix the communications device and sent a call for help to neighboring friendly forces.
The British Navy that came to the rescue
Two British planes on a mission nearby arrived first, but they did not carry bombs and could only stare at the Chinese warships below.
One of the British pilots, out of breath, also flew his plane to dive toward our warships as a threat. But under the blow of the anti-aircraft weapons on our warships, the British aircraft could only return in sorrow.
Zhang Yu saw that the enemy gunboats had lost their combat capabilities, so he did not continue to attack, and considering that the enemy's follow-up reinforcements would soon arrive, in order to avoid losses and further expand the conflict, he immediately ordered his troops to withdraw from the sea area where the incident occurred and returned to the naval base in Huangpu.
At this time, in the waters of the Pearl River Estuary, two British gunboats and a destroyer arrived one after another, rescued the ML1323 gunboat, which was already full of bullet holes, and towed it back to the port in Hong Kong.
Captain Merriman, who provoked the incident, was wounded in both legs and right arm and died on the way back, in addition to 6 British soldiers killed in the clashes, and the rest of the survivors were all hung up.
Faced with such a loss, the British were naturally quite angry, and protested to China on September 12 (Note: China and Britain did not formally establish diplomatic relations at that time), and our country replied to the British on September 29 after careful investigation.
In his reply, Zhang Hanfu, then Vice Foreign Minister, restored the original appearance of the conflict in detail and made clear our attitude: Britain provoked first, ignored China's warnings, and China was forced to defend itself before fighting back; China did not accept the protests raised by Britain and protested against Britain's provocative behavior, and Britain must take measures to prevent such incidents from happening again!
Zhang Hanfu
The British wanted to cry without tears after receiving this result, obviously my ship was broken, and people were dead, but why did you China protest against me?
However, later investigations conducted by the British also showed that this conflict was indeed their own fault, and they could only choose to calm down.
The British government compensated several soldiers who had died and awarded medals to the living. The battered ML1323 gunboat was put back into service after being repaired at Tai O's Wharf in Hong Kong.
In 1958, the British gave it to the Philippines, which renamed it The Sun, which did not finally retire from service until six years later.
But as early as a decade ago, the "Sun" and the "sun never set" empire behind it have actually been pushed off the stage by China.
Content Source:
Sasu, "Sino-British Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Pearl River: The First Foreign Operation of the People's Navy", Tank Armored Vehicles and New Military, No. 6 and No. 7, 2016
Royal Australian Navy