On April 23, 1949, the first navy of the People's Liberation Army, the "East China Military Region Navy", the predecessor of the East China Sea Fleet, was founded in the White Horse Temple in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, and the first commander and political commissar - Admiral Zhang Aiping.
At the naming ceremony of the establishment of the Navy, Zhang Aiping, on behalf of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China and the Central People's Revolutionary Military Commission, sentenced and awarded the naming certificates, military flags, captain flags, and bow flags of each ship on the commander's ship.
Zhang Aiping walked to the statue of Chairman Mao Zedong and Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and led all the sailors to solemnly swear: "We are the maritime armed forces of the Chinese people, and we have grown up under the leadership of the Communist Party of China." Today, having received the solemn banner and glorious title conferred upon us by the Central People's Government, we feel infinite honor and great responsibility... We will always defend this glorious banner and title as we defend the dignity of the Fatherland. Since then, the Plaster has opened up the navy service.
Zhang Aiping then commanded the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, liberated coastal islands, suppressed sea bandits, attacked enemy air, and conducted more than 1,200 sea raids, sank, wounded, and captured more than 400 enemy ships, and shot down and injured 204 enemy planes, of which Yijiangshan Island is the most famous.
On April 14, 1950, the leading organ of the Navy was established in Beijing, with Xiao Jinguang as commander and Liu Daosheng as deputy political commissar and director of the political department.
In February 1953, Chairman Mao Zedong inspected the naval vessels and wrote five identical inscriptions for 5 ships: "In order to oppose imperialist aggression, we must build a strong navy!" ”
Under the correct leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, the people's navy has continued to grow and develop. The Navy's surface ship unit, the Navy's submarine force, the naval aviation unit, the naval coastal defense force and the Marine Corps have been successively established. The Navy's surface ship strength includes destroyers, frigates, guided missile boats, torpedo boats, and various service ships. The Navy's submarine strength includes conventionally powered submarines and nuclear submarines. As one of the key development forces, by the end of 1955, the naval aviation basically formed a naval and air combat defense system based on shore-based aviation. The Naval Coastal Defense Force is a branch of the armed forces deployed in important coastal areas to participate in coastal defense operations. The Marine Corps is the class of troops responsible for landing operations, becoming the fifth branch of the Navy. In addition, the Navy has successively set up various specialized service units, including observation, reconnaissance, communications, engineering, navigation support, hydrometeorology, risk prevention and rescue, chemical warfare, logistics supply, and equipment repair, and its task is to ensure the smooth combat activities of all naval forces.
Since the beginning of reform and opening up in 1978, the people's navy has entered a new period of modernization. The party's second-generation leading collective with Comrade Deng Xiaoping as the core scientifically analyzed the international and domestic situation and its development trend, and led our army to complete a strategic transformation in construction. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "building a strong navy with modern combat capabilities" further clarified the fundamental requirements for the construction of the people's navy. The third-generation leading collective with Comrade Jiang Zemin as the core attaches greater importance to naval construction and development under the new situation and calls for "building the great wall on the sea of the motherland." In October 1995, Jiang Zemin, chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other cmsymist leaders collectively inspected the naval units, watched the maritime exercises, and gave important instructions, which further pointed out the direction for naval construction in the new period and brought the modernization of the navy into a new period of development.
First of all, in the construction of weapons and equipment, the naval aviation has been equipped with bombers, patrol aircraft, electronic jamming aircraft, seaplanes, transport aircraft and other service aircraft. Coastal defense missiles have formed a series, not only coastal to ship missiles, ship-to-ship missiles, but also ship-to-air missiles, air-to-ship missiles, air-to-air missiles and so on.
Second, in terms of logistical support, a modern support system has been initially formed, and a number of "military port cities," "airport networks," and "warehouse groups" have been built. A number of key construction projects have been completed, such as submarine bases, surface ship bases, the Paracel Islands, the Spratly Islands, and the rear bases of the ship brigade stationed in Hong Kong. The tonnage of a variety of service ships, such as large oil-water vessels, survey ships, salvage lifeboats, transport ships, tugboats, and hospital ships owned by the Naval Logistics Force, has increased by 2 times compared with the 1970s.
Third, scientific research results are widely used in equipment construction. After the reform and opening up, the navy actively used domestic advanced scientific and technological achievements and selectively introduced new foreign technologies to improve the equipment in active service, improve the starting point for the development of equipment, and achieve more than 8,000 scientific research achievements. These scientific research achievements have been applied to equipment construction, and breakthroughs in dozens of key technologies, such as helicopter on board, electronic warfare on ship, new type of naval guns on ship, tactical software on ship, depth charge anti-submarine weapon systematization, ship missile over-visual range, torpedo smart head, frigate full closure, etc., have doubled the combat effectiveness level of naval equipment.
At the same time, the People's Navy also plays an important role in supporting national economic construction and supporting the development of the national maritime cause. In order to meet the needs of national economic construction, the navy has dispatched more than 200,000 ships and completed a large number of tasks such as emergency rescue and disaster relief at sea, fishing escort, guarantee of marine scientific research, support for maritime transportation and marine engineering construction, marine survey and marine atmosphere observation, construction of radio navigation systems and other navigational aids, thus creating favorable conditions for the country's maritime transportation and marine development and construction undertakings. In the past 20 years, the People's Navy has also participated in more than 12,000 emergency rescue and disaster relief, rescued more than 60,000 people, and rescued more than 7,600 ships in distress at home and abroad.
The People's Navy has developed from a single branch of the people's navy into a modern service composed of surface ship units, submarine units, naval aviation units, marine corps, naval coastal defense units, and other services. Under the new historical conditions, the navy has continuously accelerated the pace of modernization, and the troops' coordinated combat capabilities, rapid response capabilities, and electronic countermeasure capabilities have been continuously enhanced, which indicates a new improvement in the people's navy's combat capability under modern technology, especially high-tech conditions.
Since then, the Chinese Navy's Founding Day has been set for April 23.
Remembering the founder of the People's Navy, General Zhang Aiping.
