When it comes to aircraft carriers, the two words that immediately flash in everyone's minds are "burning money" and "cutting-edge technology". These two words do not seem to have any connection with the old China during the warlord war, and no one can imagine that China, which is "poor and white" and weak in national strength, will have enough financial, manpower, and scientific and technological resources to invest in the research and development and manufacturing of aircraft carriers, which are "gold-swallowing monsters". But in fact, whether it was the rule of the Beiyang warlords or the rule of the Nationalist government, China once built and equipped aircraft carriers, and there were more than one.
The creation of the Feng Navy coincided with the arms embargo
In 1922, the Feng warlords led by Zhang Zuolin were defeated in the First Zhifeng War, and the main force of the Feng army of 120,000 people in four divisions was captured as many as 70,000 people. Relying on his son Zhang Xueliang's 20,000 new troops to desperately block the attack, Zhang Zuolin was able to return to the northeast nest by train, but was shelled by a direct naval warship when he passed through Shanhaiguan. After that, Zhang Zuolin learned from the pain and ordered the formation of his own navy, that is, the famous Northeast Navy in China's modern naval history.
However, at the beginning of the construction of the Northeast Navy, it encountered a great difficulty. After the First World War, the United States initiated the joint implementation of an arms embargo on China, including naval vessels, by major powers including Britain, France, Japan, and Germany, in order to curb the escalation of China's warlord war, and at the same time to check and balance each other and prevent a certain country from manipulating China's domestic political situation through arms sales. The construction of the Northeast Navy coincided with the start of the arms embargo, which meant that it was impossible to obtain ship equipment by ordering from abroad, and under the limited level of domestic industry, it could only take the wild road of refitting civilian ships.
Determined to fight the direct navy with aircraft carriers
However, at that time, the Northeast Navy was to face the main opponent of the direct navy, which could be called the strongest maritime force in the Republic of China, equipped with dozens of ships of various sizes such as cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo boats. At this time, Shen Honglie, who was in charge of the construction of the Northeast Navy, thought of the aircraft carriers that were in the limelight in the world, and decided to use aircraft bombing to counter the powerful firepower of the direct navy.
Of course, the aircraft carrier that Shen Honglie thinks of is not a carrier-based aircraft carrier with a fixed flight deck of 10,000 tons equipped by Britain, the United States, and Japan, but a pure seaplane carrier, which cannot realize the direct take-off and landing of aircraft on the ship, but only provides seaplane carrying and maintenance. When used, the aircraft is lifted to the surface of the water with the help of a special mechanical boom on the mothership and takes off from the water. The same is true for landing, where the crane is retracted back to the ship.
Converted German merchant ships as seaplane carriers
This kind of seaplane carrier is essentially just a kind of aircraft carrier platform on the water, and there are no special technical requirements that are too high, and only need the ship to have a large enough volume, so it can be modified by civilian ships, so as to occupy air superiority on the sea surface and pose a threat to the direct navy. In June 1923, the Feng Department purchased a large German-made merchant ship with a total length of 81.25 meters and a light displacement of 2,708 tons from the famous Zhengji Steamship Company.
After the purchase of this merchant ship, the Feng Department immediately renovated it, in addition to adding a few guns, it also changed the top deck of the stern of this warship into an aircraft carrier, and after expansion and enlargement, it can carry a total of three smuggled French-made "Shrek" seaplanes, thus building the first aircraft carrier in the history of the Chinese Navy, and named it "Zhenhai". Later, based on the "Zhenhai" ship, the Feng Department built the "Weihai" as its wingmanship.
Two aircraft carriers went south to attack Shanghai and other places
In the early morning of November 9, 1925, the two ships "Zhenhai" and "Weihai" appeared together in Wusongkou, Shanghai, an important military port of the direct navy, opening their own and also the first appearance of aircraft carriers in the civil war. Due to the unnoticed appearance of these two ships, they easily blended into Wusongkou, launched a surprise attack on the direct navy, and avenged the revenge outside the Shanhai Pass in the past. Subsequently, the two ships secretly went south, and a day later suddenly appeared on the coast of Zhejiang, bombarded the Zhapu port controlled by the direct warlord Sun Chuanfang, and engaged in naval battles with the "Chaowu" and "Tai'an" warships that had left the port to meet the enemy.
However, in the two battles of "Zhenhai" and "Weihai," the two battles mainly adopted the method of artillery warfare, and no carrier-based aircraft were dispatched. It was not until the end of the Northern Expedition in July 1927 that carrier-based aircraft were dispatched for the first time to carry out air raids on Lianyungang and other places controlled by the Northern Expeditionary Army.