The first naval commander of new China was General Xiao Jinguang, whose term of office lasted for 30 years from 1950 to 1980. In the past 30 years, the commander of the Navy has been relatively stable, with only one person, so Admiral Xiao Jinguang is also known as the "Commander of the Navy for Life".
After Xiao Jinguang, the replacement of naval commanders was relatively frequent. From 1980 to 1990, in 10 years, the commander of the navy of the republic changed by 3 people, but the political commissar of the navy never changed.
In 1980, Xiao Jinguang was succeeded as commander of the Navy by Admiral Ye Fei, a general in the East China Field Army. During the Liberation War, Ye Fei, like Xiao Jinguang, was the commander of the corps, Ye Fei commanded the Tenth Corps of Sanye, and Xiao Jinguang commanded the Twelfth Corps of Siye.
(First Ye Fei on the right, Deng Xiaoping on the second from the right)
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xiao Jinguang served as the first commander of the navy, Ye Fei was the first commander of the Fuzhou Military Region, one was the commander of the large army, the other was the commander of the Great Military Region, Xiao Jinguang was the general, and Ye Fei was the general. They are all the mainstay of new China and the founding generals who have worked hard and made great achievements.
Ye Fei was a very all-round general, who served as commander of the Grand Military Region, political commissar of the Grand Military Region, and secretary of the local provincial party committee. In 1979, Ye Fei was transferred to the first political commissar of the Navy and secretary of the Party Committee of the Navy, partnering with Xiao Jinguang.
In 1980, Ye Fei officially took over as commander of the Navy, and Li Yaowen was appointed political commissar of the Navy. Li Yaowen was a shandong rong adult and a general in the east China battlefield, and he served as the political commissar of the division in the eighth column led by Wang Jian'an. The Eighth Column was reorganized into the 26th Army, and when it entered the Korean War, Li Yaowen was promoted to military political commissar.
In 1955, Li Yaowen awarded the rank of founding major general, he was also an all-round general, served as the army political commissar of the army, went abroad as an ambassador, followed Premier Zhou as a vice foreign minister, trained in many posts, and made rapid progress. In 1980, Lee Came to the Navy as Political Commissar.
(Left one Li Yaowen, right one Liu Huaqing)
At that time, Ye Fei was 66 years old and Li Yaowen was 62 years old, and they worked hard together to promote the development of naval work. During Ye Fei's convalescence, Li Yaowen presided over the overall work of the Navy, working half an hour early every day, leaving at seven or eight o'clock in the evening, carefully studying the materials, finding someone to talk to, and quickly becoming an expert in naval work.
In 1982, Liu Huaqing succeeded Ye Fei as commander of the Navy, and Li Yaowen partnered with Liu Huaqing. Liu Huaqing was a famous general in Liu Deng's army, and in 1955, like Li Yaowen, he was a major general. By 1988, the entire army had resumed its rank system, and together they were awarded the rank of general.
Relatively speaking, Liu Huaqing entered the naval system much earlier than Li Yaowen, he became the vice president of the naval school after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and also went to the Soviet Union Voroshilov Naval Academy for further study, and later served as the deputy chief of staff of the navy, known as the "father of China's aircraft carriers".
Liu Huaqing and Li Yaowen worked together for five years, until the beginning of 1988. When he was about to leave office, Liu Huaqing said that he and Li Yaowen were harmonious and pleasant in working together, and that Political Commissar Li Yaowen was very strong politically, had a very high ideological level, and was good at uniting cadres.
Liu Huaqing even said that he had partnered with many political commissars in the past, and li yaowen was relatively strong in any aspect of these political commissars, and he learned a lot from Li Yaowen. The Navy has such a good political commissar and will lead the Navy better in the future.
(Zhang Lianzhong, Li Yaowen, Liu Huaqing)
Because of his strong work ability, Li Yaowen continued to serve as the political commissar of the Navy. Liu Huaqing was succeeded by Zhang Lianzhong, who, like Li Yaowen, was a native of Shandong, and they were all generals in the East China Battlefield, Zhang Lianzhong served in the Shandong Corps led by Xu Shiyou and served as a company commander in the 31st Army.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Lianzhong entered the naval system and served as deputy chief of staff of the naval fleet and deputy commander of the navy. In 1988, the 57-year-old Zhang Lianzhong took over as commander of the Navy, and his tenure was relatively long, for eight years. In 1988, Zhang Lianzhong was promoted to lieutenant general and promoted to the rank of general in 1993.
In 1990, General Lee Yiu-man retired from his leading position in the Navy due to his age and retired to the second line. He served as a political commissar in the Navy for 10 years, contributing to the modernization of the Navy.
The three commanders of the Navy, as well as Commissar Li Yaowen, were all with the rank of general. And they are also relatively old,Ye Fei died in 1999 at the age of 85. Liu Huaqing died in 2011 at the age of 95. Lee Passed away in 2018 at the age of 100. General Zhang Lianzhong is still alive and is over ninety years old. May the old general be happy and healthy in his old age.