At noon local time on October 23, the Chinese and Russian naval vessel formations sailed in the East China Sea. From October 17 to 23, 10 ships and 6 carrier-based helicopters of the Chinese and Russian navies formed a joint formation, and successfully organized the first joint maritime cruise in the seas of Japan, the western Pacific And the East China Sea.
On October 15, local time, the Sino-Russian "Maritime Joint -2021" exercise, the Chinese Navy participated in the exercise of ships sailed to the exercise area.
The officers and men of the Nanchang warship of the Chinese Navy are closely watching the naval and air situation. From October 17 to 23, 10 ships and 6 carrier-based helicopters of the Chinese and Russian navies formed a joint formation, and successfully organized the first joint maritime cruise in the seas of Japan, the western Pacific And the East China Sea.
On October 15, local time, the Sino-Russian "Maritime Joint-2021" exercise, the Russian carrier-based helicopter flew to the Chinese Navy's Nanchang ship for a simulated landing exercise.
Video loading...
Crossing the Tsushima Strait, jointly exercising the Sea of Japan; crossing the Tsugaru Strait, cruising the western Pacific Ocean; crossing the Greater Sumi Strait, toning the East China Sea...
In early to mid-October, the Chinese Navy's fleet of ships, consisting of Nanchang, Kunming, Binzhou, Liuzhou and Dongpinghu, set sail for the open sea. From October 14 to 17, the formation and Russian ships successfully completed the Sino-Russian "Maritime Joint -2021" exercise in Peter the Great Bay; from October 17 to 23, 10 ships and 6 carrier-based helicopters of the Chinese and Russian navies formed a joint formation, and successfully organized the first joint maritime cruise in the seas of Japan, the western Pacific and the East China Sea.
4,000 nautical miles to fight the wind and waves, the navies of the two countries sailed all the way to training and exchanged all the way, and further developed the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between China and Russia in the new era with pragmatic measures. In the two hard battles of joint exercise and joint cruise, the Chinese Navy's warship formation gained experience, continued friendship, created history, and left a string of flash tracks.
One
The voyage began with an autumn rain. On the morning of October 10, in the drizzle of rain, our bus drove into a military port in Qingdao.
The bus slowed down, turned, turned again, and went around the hill, and the towering ship masts came into view. What amazed me was not the island mast of the Liaoning, but the integrated mast of several Type 055 10,000-ton destroyers.
"Wow! This is also too rich! There are so many tons of big drives! "Nanchang ship, Lhasa ship, but a proper Internet celebrity!" Getting out of the car, the accompanying military reporters were amazed by the "big scene" in front of them.
"These Type 055 destroyers are only some of the main battleships of our detachment, because the docks have limited berths, and the rest of the ships can only be parked at other docks." Colonel Daniel Zhang, political commissar of a destroyer detachment of the Navy of the Northern Theater who came to greet us, warmly introduced it to everyone with a slightly "Versailles" speech.
Daniel Zhang was one of the Chinese formation commanders of the Sino-Russian "Maritime Joint-2021" exercise, and the other commander was his partner, Colonel Li Lie, the detachment leader. The flagship of the formation is the first ship of the Type 055 destroyer, the Nanchang Ship.
"More than 20 years ago, when I graduated from military school and was assigned to this detachment, the largest and most advanced main battleship was only about 3,000 tons, and the rest were more than 1,000 tons. Today, the Type 055 and 052D destroyers have become the main force of the detachment, and the changes are so great that they never dreamed of it. Looking down at the military port lined with sails, Li Lie couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
In the past 20 years, especially since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the equipment of this detachment has been reborn and changed more qualitatively. The upgrading of the main battleship of a detachment reflects the historic achievements and changes that have taken place in the transformation and construction of the people's navy.
That night, the Nanchang warship lifted anchor as planned in the face of the night rain. The night sailing of the 10,000-ton giant ship is a relatively dangerous operation, but the author saw in the wheelhouse that through the ship's highly integrated information system and accurate positioning system , the sailors only need to stare at a large screen to grasp the ship's control status in real time, obtain various data, and accurately control the battleship.
After a while, the Nanchang warship turned its bow and sped toward the dark ocean. Nanchang was inducted in January 2020 and successfully completed a number of major training missions in less than two years, especially since March this year, breaking through the island chain three times in 6 months to the South China Sea, the Sea of Japan, the Bering Sea and the Western Pacific, drawing a magnificent track on the ocean. This mission was their fourth voyage to the ocean in the year.
Before the Nanchang warship was pulled out of anchor, the Kunming warships, Binzhou warships, Liuzhou warships, and Dongpinghu warships participating in the exercise of the navies of various theaters had already set sail from their respective military ports. These ships are all new ships that have been listed after 2010. Sending a "post-10s" ship formation to participate in the Sino-Russian maritime joint exercise reflects the self-confidence and openness of the Chinese navy and shows the unbreakable traditional friendship and strategic mutual trust between the two militaries of China and Russia.
East, east. Facing the roaring waves, the Nanchang warship flashed the port lights of left red and right green, and broke the waves all the way on the dark sea, opening the curtain of the Type 055 destroyer's first trip abroad to participate in joint military exercises.
Two
Behind the wheelhouse of the Nanchang ship, there is a small nautical chart room, which is the busiest place on the ship during the voyage. Lieutenant Jiang Yaxin, deputy navigator, is here, and she has to work in the chart room for more than 8 hours a day, day and night.
In the early morning of October 12, the ships belonging to the formation entered the Tsushima Strait.
The Strait of Tsushima is a strait between the Japanese islands of Tsushima and Kyushu, which is an international waterway through which military ships and aircraft of various countries can freely pass. Jiang Yaxin pointed to the chart and said that the narrowest part of the Tsushima Strait is only 28 nautical miles, which is the main passage between the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. Looking around the Nanchang ship, merchant ships were in an endless stream, transporting most of the economic materials needed by the cities in western Japan.
In the early morning, the sea was misty, and the level 7 wind rolled up a 3-meter-high wave that hit the battleship and made a loud banging sound. The bow of the ship split the waves forward, and the large splash stirred up covered the glass portholes of the wheelhouse tightly. Corporal Song Jialong, the helmsman of the Nanchang warship, firmly grasped the rudder and advanced at a high speed along the predetermined course.
The huge fleet of ships composed of the Nanchang warship, the Kunming warship, the Binzhou warship, the Liuzhou warship, and the Dongpinghu warship quickly attracted the attention of the countries surrounding the strait. Since the early hours of the morning, the Japanese frigates "Shentong" and "Amakusa" support ships have been far behind the formation.
"It's a little abnormal today, the 'royal photographer' who cares most about us has not yet appeared?" At breakfast, Colonel Chen Weigong, political commissar of the Nanchang warship, quipped. He has led ships through the Tsushima Strait on many occasions, and is very familiar with the situation of tracking and monitoring our ships by the ships and planes of neighboring countries.
According to everyone's analysis, the early Shanghai area fog is large and the visibility is low, which is not conducive to aircraft flight, "when the weather improves, it will definitely come." Sure enough, the weather gradually improved at 10 o'clock, the visibility exceeded 5 nautical miles, and the "royal photographer" arrived late.
This is a P-1 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, circling around the Nanchang ship at a low altitude of 2 kilometers away, about 100 meters above the sea surface, and from the scene, it is almost close to the sea surface. Of course, in accordance with relevant international law and international maritime collision avoidance rules, it took the initiative to inform the purpose and route in English and stated that it would not interfere with our normal navigation.
The "royal photographer" flew around the Nanchang ship 3 times, and it was estimated that the photo was almost taken, so he flew to the other 4 ships in the formation, and the routine was exactly the same, circling and shooting at low altitude. As is customary, the next day, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Unified Staff Supervision Department will release a picture of the Chinese Navy's fleet sailing through the Tsushima Strait.
In the face of the tracking and surveillance of foreign warships and aircraft, the officers and men appeared to be very calm, performing their respective duties, all work was carried out according to the deployment, and the various combat positions were operating in an orderly manner. Sergeant Lu Ruipeng, the leader of the navigation squad, who has made more than 20 voyages, said calmly: "We have become accustomed to it." "Between his words and demeanor, there is a sense of self-confidence and calmness of a sailor of a big country.
Three
In the early morning of October 14, the Chinese warship formation entered the territorial waters of Russia's Peter the Great Bay, met a missile boat that the Russian Pacific Fleet had come to meet, and sailed to the anchorage under its guidance.
On the shores of Peter the Great Bay, the morning sun is slightly dewy, and seagulls soar. On the dark green sea, the ships of the Chinese and Russian navies were lined up in the anchorage one after another, and the mighty array was like close comrades standing shoulder to shoulder. In the gentle sea breeze, the chinese and Russian flags hanging on the main mast of the Nanchang warship fluttered in the wind.
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the two sides did not open a joint director's department and a command post on the shore, although the personnel of the command institutions of the two sides did not meet or contact, but the Friendship between China and Russia could cross the space and transmit wirelessly.
"I announce that the Sino-Russian 'Maritime Joint-2021' military exercise now begins!" At about 14:00 local time on the 14th, the opening ceremony of the exercise was held on the Nanchang warship and the Russian Navy's "Loud" frigate. Rear Admiral Cabantsov, commander of the Fleet of the Coastal Mixed Zone of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, and Rear Admiral Bai Yaoping, deputy commander of the Navy of the Northern Theater of operations of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, as the directors of the exercise, successively delivered speeches through the communication system and opened the curtain of the joint exercise in the form of "air dialogue."
Navy spokesman Senior Colonel Liu Wensheng said that the "joint maritime" series of exercises is the largest maritime exercise within the bilateral framework of China and Russia, and has been held nine times in a row since 2012. After years of running-in on maritime joint exercises, the two sides have gradually formed a relatively mature and standardized joint exercise organization and implementation method model on the basis of a high degree of mutual trust and in-depth cooperation, and the Sino-Russian joint exercise at sea has become a stable cooperation platform and exchange channel for enhancing the level of strategic mutual trust between the two countries and two militaries, enhancing the traditional friendship between the navies, and exercising and improving the ability of joint operations at sea, which has attracted more and more extensive attention from the world and the country, and has formed a strong "brand" effect.
It was a reunion of old friends. Among the ships participating in the exercise, the Chinese Navy's Liuzhou ship, Dongping Lake ship, and the Russian Navy's large anti-submarine ship have participated in the "Sino-Russian Maritime Joint" series of exercises, and exchanges and cooperation for many years have enabled officers and men to form a deep friendship with each other.
"I have several old friends in the Russian Pacific Fleet!" Li Lie, commander of the Chinese formation, said happily. Since 2012, he has participated in six Sino-Russian maritime joint exercises, and in 2018, he also led the Yellowstone ship to Russia to participate in the "International Military Competition" and won the "Cup of the Seas" project.
"Look, that's the 'Admiral Pandeleev' large anti-submarine ship, that's the 'Loud' frigate..." Tang Yanzhi, the signal squad leader of the Dongping Lake ship and the fourth class of sergeant majors, introduced the performance of the russian warships anchored one by one to the recruits.
The joint exercise is not only a mutual learning and progress of tactics and training methods, but also a sublimation and heating up of emotional friendship. After nearly 10 years of running-in, the Navies of China and Russia have become more and more tacit, gradually moving from the initial "you are you, I am me" to a new stage of "you have me, I have you".
Four
At 7:30 local time, the Chinese and Russian warship formations departed from the anchorage. Since this day, the joint exercise has entered the stage of real-life exercises. On the same day, it is necessary to complete the courses of formation communication, passage through mine threat areas, formation air defense, formation maneuvering, main artillery shooting at the sea, and anchorage defense.
"From setting sail in the morning to breaking anchor in the evening, we have to complete so many exercises in one day, and the challenge is indeed relatively large." Daniel Zhang, commander of the Chinese formation, said that the content of the exercise was intensive, the rhythm changed rapidly, and most of the subjects did not formulate a detailed implementation plan, which required on-site guidance and on-the-spot decision-making, which was no small test for the commanders and the officers and men participating in the exercise.
After completing a brief communications exercise, Chinese and Russian warships formed a single column in a single formation and headed for the exercise area. Russian minesweepers, as the vanguard of the entire fleet of ships, quickly went forward to clear the simulated mine threat. Colonel Zhou Minghui, captain of the Nanchang warship, introduced that although mines are an old-fashioned weapon, the threat cannot be underestimated, and it is not tolerable to be sloppy in handling.
"Floating thunder appears in front." A password came from the Russian command ship. After a while, the Russian ships and the Chinese Dongping Lake warships used their guns to strike the approaching simulated mines in turn, successfully opening up a safe channel.
As soon as the mine threat was lifted, the formation air defense course was immediately launched. Russian fighters played the role of blue army, rapidly approaching Chinese ships from different directions and different heights. Since the Chinese warships did not know the timing, orientation, and route of the Blue Army fighters' surprise attack before the exercise, this "back-to-back" air defense confrontation is the most direct actual combat test of the daily combat readiness training level of the Chinese warships.
In the face of the "menacing" fighters, the Chinese and Russian ship formations quickly posed in the air defense formation, weaved a strict air defense network, and successfully resisted many batches of air targets. "With the close cooperation of friendly neighboring ships, the Nanchang warship has performed well in the air defense course." Captain Zhou Huaqing, deputy air combat chief of the Nanchang warship, said.
At 16:30, the exercise ushered in the most interesting course - the main gun shooting at the sea. The Formations of Chinese and Russian ships changed their formations and advanced in one column. Each ship sequentially uses its main guns to fire fire on targets at sea. For a moment, the cannons on the sea rumbled and the fire was everywhere.
As the latest destroyer of the People's Navy, the main gun shooting of the Nanchang ship is the focus of everyone's attention. Looking through the telescope, the target 8,000 meters away is like a jumping ping-pong ball, looming, floating up and down, can it hit? Many people sweated for the gunners.
In the main gun control room of the Nanchang ship, Shi Xiaojun, the commander of the commander squad and the second-class sergeant major, was full of confidence, he served in the main gun position for 20 years, operated many types of naval guns, and had a lot of experience. He worked closely with his comrades-in-arms and used the advanced fire control computer to quickly solve the firing elements according to the target ship position information provided by the radar department.
"Aim correctly, load well, put!" At the moment when he pressed the launch button, the main gun made a loud noise, the shell came out of the chamber, and the first shot hit the target accurately.
"In the course of shooting at the sea that has just ended, our ship hit the target immediately after test firing, and the follow-up shots hit one after another, achieving a good start to the actual use of weapons in the Sino-Russian joint exercise, which fully embodies the results of everyone's solid training and unity in the early stage." As soon as the firing of the total of 20 shells was completed, Chen Weigong, political commissar of the Nanchang warship, announced the results through the ship's broadcast, and the officers and men of the whole ship were deeply encouraged.
"Such good results have been achieved thanks not only to the advanced performance of our main guns and the qualitative leap in the accuracy of our strikes, but also to the solid training foundation of officers and men and the high degree of integration of man and weapon." Shi Xiaojun introduced that at the beginning of his enlistment, the double 130 mm main gun he was in charge of needed more than a dozen people to operate, the aiming time was long, and the accuracy was not high, while the main gun of the Nanchang ship only needed two or three people to operate, and the solution of the elements was fully automated, which perfectly confirmed that "science and technology is combat effectiveness."
Five
From the morning of October 16 to the 17th, the Sino-Russian joint exercise entered the inter-day joint anti-submarine stage. Anti-submarine warfare is a worldwide naval warfare problem, but also the "major drama" of the Sino-Russian "Maritime Joint -2021" joint exercise, the two navies have dispatched shore-based anti-submarine patrol aircraft, in coordination with the ship formation and carrier-based helicopters, to carry out three-dimensional joint anti-submarine operations, the degree of confrontation between the subjects and the degree of actual combat has been greatly improved compared with previous years, which also reflects the high degree of strategic mutual trust between China and Russia.
Stepping into the Chinese command post located in Nanchang, several huge electronic screens came into view. The Formations of Chinese and Russian ships are carrying out anti-submarine warfare in different sea areas at the same time, the electric light of each display control station flashes, and the red, red, green and green icons slowly move on the situation map. The officers and men were in a hurry, their faces were solemn, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.
For the first time, The Chinese anti-submarine patrol planes that took off from a certain airport in our country flew through Russian airspace to the sea areas targeted for the exercise to conduct anti-submarine searches; the helicopters of each ship-based helicopter rose out in turn; and the surface ships such as the Nanchang and Kunming warships laid out towed sonars. A series of combined punches went out, making the three-dimensional anti-submarine drill climax.
When talking about the role relationship between anti-submarine patrol aircraft, carrier-based helicopters, and surface ships in joint anti-submarine missions, Li Lie, commander of the Chinese formation, made an easy-to-understand analogy: "It's like a doctor examining a patient, and an anti-submarine patrol aircraft is like CT (computed tomography scan) and nuclear magnetic resonance, conducting a positioning search of suspected target areas; carrier-based helicopters carry out 'endoscopic' operations on the sea areas of anti-submarine patrol aircraft as needed. Minimally invasive surgery', further verification confirms or excludes underwater targets; surface ships undertake long-term tracking, continuously narrowing the scope and locking on to targets, slowly closing the net. ”
However, finding a submarine in a vast area of water depth is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. In order to catch this "big black fish", the Chinese and Russian warship aircraft formations cast an invisible net - anti-submarine patrol aircraft radar, carrier-based helicopters and ship sonar sound waves, combing back and forth in the sea over and over again.
Late at night on October 16, the two sides began a second round of submarine search operations. At this time, the cold wave struck, the highest wind at sea reached level 8, the wave height was 5 meters, and the ships sailing against the wind rose and fell, looking forward from the wheelhouse, faintly seeing the big waves coming one after another.
Factors such as unfamiliar sea areas, complex sea conditions, and continuous combat across days and nights have made anti-submarine exercises more difficult, especially the sudden drop in water temperature caused by cold waves, which has covered the submarine with a layer of "camouflage net" and "protective color", making sonar detection more difficult.
High winds and waves are also a huge challenge for helicopter take-offs and landings. Colonel Tan Shenpeng, the captain of the helicopter who completed several hours of aerial submarine search operations during the day, said: "The ship's flight deck shakes violently in the wind and waves, and the helicopter landing must determine the stable period between the peaks and troughs within a few seconds, which is quite difficult." ”
Even in the face of numerous difficulties, the officers and men of the Chinese side participating in the exercise still had a high morale, overcame the adverse effects of the strong winds and waves, cooperated tacitly with each other, exchanged information between the battle positions, captured every weak underwater target signal, underwent a hard-hitting temper in the three-dimensional anti-submarine of actual combat, enriched and tested the tactics of training, trained commanders and technicians at all levels, and accumulated "experience points" for decisive victory in the future sea battlefield.
Six
This is destined to be a long sea voyage that will go down in the annals of Chinese naval history.
After the end of the "Maritime Joint-2021" exercise on the morning of October 17, the ships of the two countries did not "fight their way back home" as usual, but formed a joint formation and sailed to the ocean and began the first joint maritime cruise between China and Russia.
"Comrades, we are about to start the first sino-Russian joint maritime cruise. To the rear of the formation, the mountains of the Sikhote Mountains were moving away. In front of the formation is the long waves of the deep sea and the long waves of the deep ocean and the shining course of the military career of all officers and men. We work together, we witness together! At the critical juncture when the formation was transferred to joint cruise, the political commissar Chen Weigong of the Nanchang warship made a surging and exciting impromptu radio mobilization, which reverberated in the hearts of officers and men for a long time.
Facing the wind and withstanding the waves, 10 warships, including the Nanchang warship of the Chinese Navy and the command ship "Marshal Krylov" of the Russian Navy, did not hesitate to go all the way east day and night, across the Sea of Japan. On the morning of October 18, it began to cross the Tsugaru Strait, and the Sino-Russian joint formation formed a column that stretched for more than 10 nautical miles.
The Tsugaru Strait is a non-territorial strait, and ships of various countries can pass freely. At this time, the sky is blue and the sea is blue, the clouds are cirrus, facing the bow direction, the port bridge around hakodate city in Hokkaido on the left, and the rolling green hills of Honshu Island on the right. However, the officers and men did not have the leisure to enjoy these scenery; foreign anti-submarine patrol planes, reconnaissance planes, fighter planes, minesweepers, and so on, had been accompanying the Chinese and Russian joint formations before they entered the strait, and at most there were 8 planes, some circling around the formation to shoot, and some skimming low from the outside of our ship.
In accordance with relevant international law, the Chinese vessels shouted in English, identified and verified them, and warned them to drive away, demanding that the other side maintain a safe distance and not interfere with our normal navigation. The Nanchang warship's more signal soldiers, Zhang Haoxiang and Lu Da, were busy from morning to night, and their English was proficient and standardized, and their attitude was not humble or profane.
On the evening of October 18, the Japanese Ministry of Defense announced the information that Chinese and Russian formations had crossed the Tsugaru Strait, and said that this was the first time that a Chinese and Russian naval vessel had passed through the Tsugaru Strait, and the Japanese side sent ships and aircraft to carry out "intelligence collection and vigilance and surveillance", which for a time aroused great concern in international public opinion.
Out of the Tsugaru Strait, into the western Pacific Ocean, all the way to the south, across the Osumi Strait, into the East China Sea... The Sino-Russian joint formation has been training all the way to the cruise, and courses such as joint sailing, joint maneuvering, actual use of weapons, and helicopter take-off and landing have been staged in the vast ocean.
In the western Pacific Ocean east of Japan, the Sino-Russian joint formation organized live-fire rocket depth bomb training. The Russian "Admiral Tributs" and "Admiral Pandeleev" large anti-submarine ships and the Chinese Binzhou and Liuzhou combined formations launched several rocket depth bombs to attack the target in the left front. The loud noises on the high seas conveyed to the outside world that China and Russia had a new upgrade in the level of military coordination and exchange.
On the evening of October 22, the Sino-Russian joint formation entered the Osumi Strait and arrived in the eastern part of the East China Sea in the early morning of the next day. At this point, the first joint maritime cruise of the Chinese and Russian navies is about to come to a successful end.
It's time to say goodbye! At noon on October 23, bathed in the late autumn sea breeze, the five warships of China and Russia were divided into two columns and marched in the same direction, and the sailors of the two countries, who had never met before, stood on the side of their respective ships. With the sound of the whistle, the two ship formations were like two long dragons slowly separating to the sides, and everyone waved goodbye in unison——
See you on your next mission!
Source: China Youth Daily