In the Liaoshen Campaign, the Nationalist army in the northeast battlefield was not only well-armed and equipped, but also held air and sea supremacy. In order to win this battle, the Nanjing side dispatched almost all its ships.
The cruiser Chongqing is one of them.
In the old movie "The Battle of Liaoshen in the Great Armageddon", Chairman Jiang personally visited Huludao and held a meeting on the cruiser Chongqing to urge Hou Jingru, commander of the 17th Corps of the Nationalist Army, to lead the East Advance Corps to quickly reinforce Jinzhou and attack the main forces of the Northeast Field Army. The 4th and 11th columns of the Northeast Field Army held a blockade at Tashan. Hou Jingru expressed his position with confidence: "This time, with the strong cooperation of the navy and air force, I can't take it down, and I will die of shame without the sanctions imposed by the chairman of the committee." ”
Chairman Jiang asked Gui Yongqing, commander-in-chief of the Navy: "Can your naval guns reach Tashan?" ”
Gui Yongqing replied: "Yes, we have 24 guns on the ground, and there are plenty of shells." ”
The chairman of the committee said, "Knock it all out." ”
Gui Yongqing's "24-life naval gun" refers to the 6-inch 152 mm naval gun equipped on the cruiser Chongqing. The cruiser Chongqing docked in Bohai Bay, not far from Tashan, which was indeed within range of the cruiser Chongqing's guns.
Later, the naval guns fired from the cruiser Chongqing poured on the Tashan position of the Northeast Field Army, filling the entire Tashan position with smoke, flames soaring into the sky, and shrapnel flying everywhere. The northeast field army's blocking troops suffered heavy casualties.
One
The cruiser Chongqing was not a domestic warship. In fact, in the 1930s and 1940s, as far as our poor industrial production capacity was concerned, it was impossible to produce a large ship, let alone a cruiser.
The cruiser Chongqing was built in 1937 by the British Portsmouth Shipyard and belonged to the Linxian class light cruiser, originally known as Aurora.
In terms of performance data, the cruiser Aurora is 154 meters long, 15.54 meters wide, 5 meters draught, with a standard displacement of 5270 tons and a full load displacement of 6715 tons. Its main weapon system is a 6-inch (152mm) twin-mounted front main turret with 2 and a rear main turret with 1. The muzzle has an initial velocity of 841 m/s and a maximum range of about 23,000 m. In addition, it is equipped with 4 inches (102 mm) twin high-level dual-purpose secondary turrets, 2 sets of triple 533 mm torpedo tubes, 3 20 mm dual Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, 2 20 mm single-mounted Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, and a walrus carrier-based aircraft.
Construction of the cruiser Aurora began on 27 July 1935 at portsmouth Shipyard, launched in August 1936, completed and commissioned on 12 November 1937, and incorporated into the British Navy's Home Fleet.
In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, the cruiser Aurora was sent to Norwegian waters and the North Atlantic sea area to participate in the famous naval battle rounding up the German battleship Bismarck. Later, the cruiser Aurora took part in the North African campaign, the Battle of Oran, and the Sicily Landings. During World War II, the cruiser Aurora made many achievements, sinking a total of 1 cruiser, 10 destroyers, 3 minesweepers, 7 landing ships and 7 merchant ships, and damaging 9 destroyers.
Two
In 1945, after the end of World War II, the cruiser Aurora retired from active service and was enfeoffed at Portsmouth Naval Base.
In May 1948, considering that the British had lost six Chinese harbor patrol boats in their custody, they gave the cruiser Aurora to China and renamed it Chongqing. On May 26 of that year, the cruiser Chongqing and another British-leased destroyer, the Lingfu, departed from the British Portsmouth Naval Base and arrived in Shanghai in August 1948 after nearly three months of voyage.
For Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, who had only a group of dilapidated ships, the arrival of the cruiser Chongqing was a treasure. This is the largest and strongest capital warship in the national naval force, and is regarded as an ace warship. Chairman Chiang Kai-shek not only summoned Hui Hui on warships on many occasions, but also allowed it to directly participate in the war. On October 10, 1948, when the Tashan Blockade Battle began, the cruiser Chongqing bombarded Tashan and Gaoqiao positions from Huludao with naval guns.
However, the cruiser Chongqing did not change the outcome of the nationalist defeat. Even if the nationalist army has air and sea supremacy, it will not help. On October 15, 1948, with the main force of the Northeast Field Army conquering Jinzhou, the Tashan Blockade Battle ended, and the cruiser Chongqing withdrew.
In February 1949, after the end of the three major battles, the defeat of the Nationalist army was inevitable. The Nanjing side was not willing to accept defeat and tried to rely on the Yangtze River defense line to block the pace of our army's advance. To this end, the Nanjing side transferred the cruiser Chongqing to Wusongkou in Shanghai, with the intention of going up against the Yangtze River and cooperating with the Jiangyin Coastal Defense Second Fleet to prevent our army from crossing the river. The underground crew of the cruiser Chongqing immediately launched an uprising, leaving Wusongkou and heading north, at a speed of 24 knots, to Yantai, Shandong, which had been liberated.
The Nanjing side was embarrassed and angry, not willing to let the cruiser Chongqing fall into the hands of our army, and sent bombers to indiscriminately bomb the cruiser Chongqing. On March 20, 1949, the cruiser Chongqing insurgents opened the floodgates and sank themselves on Huludao.