The content of this article is based on authoritative historical data, and there are citations at the end of the article
After the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1978, the Party comprehensively put things in order in the ideological and political fields, and China began to enter a new era of socialist development.
The protection of the sea area cannot only rely on the bare hands of countless naval soldiers, the construction of a modern naval formation is imminent, and the technological breakthrough of aircraft carriers is a topic that needs to be solved urgently. But the problem is that at that time, China did not have the conditions for developing heavy industry at all, and all kinds of weapons and equipment were seriously restricted by the Soviet Union, and aircraft carriers were classified by the army, and very few relevant materials were introduced to China.
When the news came from Heilongjiang, there was an international supply ship that had been built 80 percent of the ships intended to be sold to the Chinese, and General Liu Huaqing, then commander of the Chinese Navy, was very excited when he heard the news, and immediately reported it to the central authorities and held an emergency meeting at the Guoan Hotel.
1. The father of China's aircraft carrier - Liu Huaqing
Liu Huaqing, as the founder of China's aircraft carrier and naval modernization, is known as the "father of China's aircraft carrier", in 1916, born in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Liu Lao entered the new school to learn Western industrial technology at a young age, at this time Liu Huaqing has begun to show his extraordinary military talent and political literacy.
At the age of 12, he took the initiative to join the Communist Party of China, and then joined the Young Vanguard Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
By 1954, Liu Huaqing had joined the Chinese Navy, and went to the Soviet Naval Academy to learn the corresponding naval knowledge, through the study of some naval battles during World War II, Liu Huaqing more clearly realized that one of the important reasons why modern China was invaded by Western powers was that there was no strong enough navy, resulting in a few cannons of the British army easily opened the door of China, creating a history of humiliation that could not be looked back.
As we all know, the strength of the navy is inseparable from the development of aircraft carriers, and if there is no advanced aircraft carrier support, then the Chinese navy will always be inferior, constrained by the United States and the Soviet Union, and the aircraft will only circle around the coastline due to the lack of timely supplies. For this reason, Liu Huaqing worked even harder, eagerly absorbing the military theories and technologies of the Soviet Navy.
After four years, after returning to China, Liu Huaqing began to participate in the research and development of submarines and frigates, and with the disdain of many scientific researchers, the Type 051 ship independently developed by the mainland navy was successfully launched, which marked that China officially became the fifth country in the world to have nuclear bomb submarines, and the deterrent power of the Chinese navy has been significantly improved.
At the same time, it greatly stimulated the desire and confidence of Liu Huaqing and other scientific researchers for the construction of aircraft carriers. However, due to the restrictions of the country's economic development, the central government did not intend to start developing aircraft carriers at this time, so the plan to develop aircraft carriers has been put on hold.
2. Liu Huaqing's visit to the United States
In the early 80s of the last century, Sino-US relations ushered in a new turning point, with the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, a series of military exchange activities began to be carried out in an orderly manner, in this regard, China set up the first military technology delegation, led by Liu Huaqing to the United States for military investigation and study, and strive to win cooperation in military equipment technology from the United States.
During the 11-day visit to the United States, Liu Huaqing's delegation visited and studied the advanced technology and equipment of the United States non-stop.
On the last day of their visit to the United States, the delegation visited the heavy ships of the US Navy at that time, including the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, the battleship Tarawa, and the cruiser Fox.
At this time, there was a poignant scene: An old man in an old green military uniform stood on the deck of a US aircraft carrier, tiptoeing and looking forward to it, observing the US warships from a distance, hoping to see some fame; although the arrogant US Navy did not allow the Chinese delegation to get close to touch the facilities and equipment on the aircraft carrier on the grounds of secrecy, General Liu Huaqing still cherished this hard-won opportunity, and this was also the first time that China boarded an aircraft carrier.
Inspecting the aircraft carrier more than 20 meters high is not easy for 66-year-old Liu Huaqing, and it takes Liu Lao a lot of energy to climb up and down frequently, but he is like an ignorant and humble student, seizing every hard-won learning opportunity.
After this visit to the United States, Liu Huaqing profoundly understood the importance of aircraft carriers to naval operations, and the emergence of Soviet and American aircraft carriers has pulled the naval combat mode to another level, pushing it from a flat plane to a three-dimensional one, and realizing over-the-horizon operations.
At that time, China's coast was faced with a dispute over the Nansha Islands and other problems, and its maritime interests had been seriously infringed upon; if the Chinese Navy had aircraft carriers, it would first of all easily meet the needs of the struggle against Taiwan, and the navy's combat strength would also rise, which would help expand its national prestige and maintain peace in the world's oceans.
But obviously, the development and construction of aircraft carriers is not achieved overnight, a research engineer in the delegation You Ziping said: "Although the aircraft carrier (this visit to the United States) left a deep impression, a preliminary understanding of its technical content, and at the same time a clear difficulty in developing aircraft carriers, let's just take a look, the gap in national strength is too big, although greedy, but it is unrealistic to build it." ”
But Liu Huaqing doesn't think so, building an aircraft carrier has become his goal of life, if China does not build an aircraft carrier, I will not be blind! In 1983, Liu Huaqing was officially promoted to the commander of the Chinese Navy, in fact, as early as 14 years ago, the central government had already put forward the intention of appointing Liu Huaqing, but due to bad luck, Liu Lao's life was ill-fated.
After being promoted, Liu Huaqing is ready to make great achievements and contribute to the modernization of the Chinese Navy. He visited and inspected various departments of China's navy, large and small, which lasted 14 months, and inspected countless navigation bases, ship formations, coastal defense bases, and major scientific research institutes.
In a bay, Liu Huaqing found several search warships anchored in the middle of a small bay, and he was puzzled and asked the local navy why: "Why don't you dock them at the dock?" ”
The answer was even more frightening, because the tide was not enough, and these warships could only wait for the high tide to dock, such a fantastical reason for fear of being laughed at, but it really happened on the coast of China.
In addition, the navy's food supply during the sea patrol operation is also completely behind the international, still using the most traditional method to transport unprocessed grain and vegetables through manpower, this backward method seriously restricts the development of the navy, and the construction of aircraft carriers must speed up the process.
Since then, the dream of building an aircraft carrier has been deeply rooted in Liu Huaqing's heart, and his life will be entrusted to the great cause of aircraft carriers.
3. Liu Huaqing's aircraft carrier dream
As early as the 60s of the last century, Liu Huaqing has had a great interest and concern for aircraft carriers, and in May 1970, he completed for the first time a "Preliminary Opinions on the Construction of Aircraft Carriers", which lived up to expectations and reached the field of vision of senior leaders, and the "conceptual model map" of aircraft carriers also began to take shape.
The central authorities attached great importance to this opinion and issued a red-headed document on the study of aircraft carriers, and the sacred responsibility of studying aircraft carriers undoubtedly fell on Liu Huaqing's shoulders, and they held a discussion forum on this document, at which they discussed the model plan for the development of aircraft carriers, and named it Project 707.
However, the good times did not last long, and if they wanted to cross the Yellow River and the ice, they would climb the snow-covered mountains, and with the full-scale outbreak of the 918 incident, the whole country fell into the haze of war, and the aircraft carrier construction project was forced to be temporarily put on hold. Five years later, Liu Huaqing once again admonished the central authorities and completed the 10,000-word "Report on the Naval Equipment Issue." Comrade Xiaoping was deeply convinced after seeing it and immediately approved it.
In October of the same year, he joined the core leading group of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and contributed to the launch of a number of important projects.
After several years of arduous struggle, Liu Huaqing played a pivotal role in the production and development of missile destroyers and the use of underwater launch vehicles, and single-handedly promoted the preliminary demonstration and pre-research work of aircraft carriers, writing a new chapter in the development of the Chinese Navy!
The lack of knowledge reserves and backward industrial productivity make the construction of aircraft carriers very difficult, just like a high-rise building rising from the ground, a chasm that is difficult to overcome. But Liu Huaqing has never been knocked down by the difficulties in front of him, the platform of a thousand miles starts from the soil, and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step! He led the scientific research team and the engineers to work hard to overcome the problem step by step.
In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world pattern has changed, but it is a rare opportunity for international trade, the border trade of the mainland has also ushered in an unprecedented spring, close to Heilongjiang people have started the business of the former Soviet Union, and even the important military weapons such as aircraft and artillery that were rare in the past have been put on the negotiation roundtable.
The Kherson shipyard in Ukraine belongs to the former Soviet Union, and originally planned to build 12 search and supply ships for the Soviet Navy, but the Soviet Union collapsed, and the shipyard also went bankrupt due to the rupture of the capital chain. The Kherson shipyard, in order to reduce economic losses, pre-sold it to other countries.
When General Liu Huaqing heard the news, he was very moved and immediately convened a meeting to discuss whether to buy it or not; if he bought this fuel supply ship, which had already been built 80 percent, then the construction of China's aircraft carrier would climb a new ladder, and the information on the development of the aircraft carrier would be further supplemented.
At present, the price given by the Ukrainian side is 71 million, which exceeds the budget of the central government, but the opportunity is really difficult, and after strict discussions, it was finally sold at a price of 70.09 million.
In Liu Huaqing's view, the two major problems in naval construction are aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, and these two equipment are not only for war, but also for deterrence.
At this time, China is getting closer and closer to the goal of building its own aircraft carrier, try to ask the sea and blue waves, what is the meaning of the country, in September 2012, the mainland's first independently developed aircraft carrier "Liaoning" was officially handed over to the navy.
At present, there are very few countries in the world that can develop aircraft carriers completely independently, and Liu Huaqing, including countless scientific research personnel, have worked hard and relied on their own to develop China's own aircraft carriers, indicating that China's national defense level has begun to move to the forefront of the world, and the development of China's navy is also like the ideal that veteran General Liu Huaqing has diligently pursued, and it is becoming a reality step by step.
Dedication and dedication to the construction of the Chinese Navy and aircraft carriers, and the process of starting from scratch for the mainland's aircraft carrier cause has been realized from scratch.
Today's Chinese descendants will conscientiously practice Liu Lao's life ideals, so that the Chinese Navy will sail farther into the ocean, and China's national defense will reach new heights!
Even though the road of life is full of mud and thorns, we should not be afraid of the difficulties in front of us, as long as we do not stop working hard, we will always cross one level after another, and turn around, the light boat has crossed the ten thousand mountains!
#头条创作挑战赛#
Bibliography:
[1] Shi Changxue. Liu Huaqing: "If China does not develop aircraft carriers, I will not be blind to death!" Reading,2023,(88):41-43.
[2] Wang Xiangkun. Liu Huaqing——The earliest person in New China to advocate the construction of aircraft carriers[J].Dang Dangwenyuan,2020,(04):32-38.)
[3] Wu Dianqing. Liu Huaqing and the modernization of naval equipment[J].Party History Expo,2022,(07):48-54.