In the more than ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, poverty and backwardness, waste to be rebuilt, the resources that can be put out in the country are few and far between, and all the money must be spent on the blade. At this time, China actually paid a lot of money to buy several old-fashioned ships from the Soviet Union, the "Anger-class" destroyers of World War II.
After consulting with the Soviet Union, Luo Shunchu reported to Premier Zhou and Navy Commander Xiao Jinguang that the warships sold by the Soviet Union were very old, similar to broken copper and rotten iron, and sold very expensive, and the price of a ship was equivalent to 17 tons of gold.
The situation at the time was basically like this:
China: Big brother, how much is your ship?
USSR: 50 million rubles.
Is your ship's leather made of gold, or is the gun made of gold?
You see where there are boats now, you are too expensive and I am too expensive, do you want it?
At this time, Commander Xiao Jinguang said: You must buy, even if it is a pile of rags!
Commander of the Navy, Xiao Jinguang
In the end, China bought 4 such warships from the Soviet Union for 68 tons of gold, about 200 million rubles. Afterwards, China's decision to buy these warships turned out to be very correct, and even the bureau seats said, "We make a lot of money."
So why did the Soviet Union slaughter customers so fiercely? At that time, China was not a big dog with rich oil, and at that time, even the "First Five-Year Plan" had not yet been completed, so why did it have to spend so much money to buy a retired warship?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="12" > China is in dire need of large warships</h1>
After the founding of New China, the army as the founding division was strong, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea impressed the world. But during the same period, China's navy and air force developed difficultly, far behind the world's advanced level, especially the navy.
At that time, most of the main warships of the Chinese Navy were small ships that took over the Kuomintang army, or civilian and commercial ships that were modified on their own, and there were almost no large warships, and their combat effectiveness was seriously insufficient.
As an agrarian country, China's level of industrialization and mechanization lags much behind that of the West. What can we build before the First Five-Year Plan? It is nothing more than rice noodle grain, pots and pans. Without their own industry, tanks, planes, cannons, and even better tractors could not be built, let alone medium and large warships.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the situation was very complicated, China had a long coastline, and the coastal areas were always within the scope of attack by the US military and Kuomintang reactionaries. Those reactionary forces entrenched on the island know that we do not have large warships, and they will attack our coast at any time, come and go as they please, and then from time to time learn from wokou and land to grab a wave, seriously threatening the safety of the lives and property of the people on the mainland.
The patrol boats and gunboats of the Chinese Navy have too short ranges and insufficient firepower to take on the heavy responsibility of defending the homeland and defending the country, and China urgently needs medium and large warships with deterrent power and can go to sea to fight. Because it cannot be independently developed, it can only be imported from abroad at a high price like the Great Qing.
China originally planned to buy warships from Britain, after all, Britain has been a sea robber for hundreds of years, and shipbuilding technology must not be said. On the British side, although the "Purple Quartz" provoked China to be bombed, but one yard to one yard, the money sent to the door where there is no reason, the two sides hit it off. Doing business, it's not chilling.
However, with the ideological confrontation and the formation of the Cold War pattern, in order to "protect the Kuomintang" and "contain communism", the United States explicitly ordered Western capitalist countries not to sell weapons to China, and the plan to buy warships from Britain was also in vain.
The West was hostile to the blockade of New China, and China had no choice but to find the "big brother" of the socialist camp, the Soviet Union.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > what is a "lightning strike ship"</h1>
What the Soviets agreed to sell to China were four "lightning strike ships" converted into destroyers.
"Lightning strike ships" are torpedoes as the main means of attack of the ship, the status is equivalent to the destroyer, with the development of submarines and aircraft carriers, "lightning strike ships" have been difficult to fire torpedoes close to the enemy, the Soviet Union built "lightning strike ships", but also after World War II was gradually transformed into destroyers.
According to the provisions of the Second Five-Year Plan, the Soviet Union was to build fifty lightning strikers and destroyers in the Second Five-Year Plan. In 1932, the Soviet Ship Design Bureau made a special visit to Italy, and after referring to the Arrow class and the Northwest Wind class destroyers, the Soviet Union turned back to build 28 lightning strike ships code-named "07", because the first ship was "Rage", and the "07" type ship was also known as the "Rage class".
The "Rage class" was installed in the four major fleets of the Soviet Red Army, and serious technical flaws were soon exposed, such as severe vibration during high-speed sailing, and the failure to arrange the boiler and engine compartments. In World War II, a total of ten Fury-class minesweepers were sunk.
Soviet Navy destroyer "Fear"
After the end of World War II, due to the weak foundation of the Soviet Navy and heavy losses in the war, the defective "Rage-class" lightning strike ships were converted into destroyers and continued to serve.
In 1952, China approached the Soviet Union, and Navy Commander Xiao Jinguang personally went to Moscow to discuss equipment purchase plans with the Soviet Union. The Soviets agreed to sell coastal defense guns, trainers and torpedoes to China, but paid no attention to large warships.
At that time, the Soviet Union's new type of cruiser had just been installed, and the Soviet Union refused to sell cruisers to China because of the principle that arms sales could not sell the country's most advanced weapons. Moreover, the Soviet navy was not superior to the European and American countries, and the Soviet Union also needed a large number of warships to guard the country.
"You see where there are warships now, you need me to need it."
To this end, Chairman Mao twice sent direct telegrams to Stalin, hoping that he would allow the sale of warships to China out of consideration for the strategic cooperation between China and the Soviet Union. Luo Shunchu, deputy commander of the Navy, also led two delegations to visit the Soviet Union to discuss with the Soviet Union the purchase of warships. After arduous negotiations, the other side finally made concessions, and the Soviet Union agreed to sell warships to China, but the new warships were not sold, only the old ships from World War II, that is, 4 "Rage-class" destroyers.
And the Soviets asked for a high price: 17 tons of gold per ship.
Stalin
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="36" > why the Soviet Union "slaughtered customers"</h1>
Many people will wonder, "Big Brother" what is going on, "Big Brother" and our relationship at that time was not very good, why the sky is asking for a price?
First of all, there is the problem of "the Soviet Union does not want to sell" just mentioned, I directly ask for a price, maybe you will "retreat from the difficulty". You don't want it yourself, and I have diplomatic rhetoric.
Another reason is that the Soviet Union was actually unhappy with China's independent construction of a navy.
Since the time of Tsarist Russia, our northern neighbor has been salivating over the far east's estuary, and in order to obtain an ice-free port on the Pacific coast, the Russian Empire has repeatedly invaded the Manchu Qing, and has also competed with Japan for northeast China and the port of Lushun.
After the victory in World War II, Stalin cooperated with the Kuomintang for a time. Under the threat of handing over the northeast region to the Chinese Communists, the Soviets forced the then Kuomintang government to sign an agreement, which in turn granted permanent use of the Chinese port of Lushun and Dalian.
After the founding of New China, the central government did not recognize all the unequal treaties signed by the Kuomintang and other countries, and Chairman Mao argued for the sake of national interests, forcing Stalin to agree to return the ports of Lushun and Dalian, as well as the right to use the Northeast Railway in China (unfortunately, Stalin did not give in to the issue of Outer Mongolia, and Outer Mongolia failed to return to China).
Stalin, who had no hope of getting the Pacific ports in China's hands, began to fully support Kim Il Sung and launched a war to unify the Korean Peninsula, hoping to take the ports from North Korea. With the participation of the United States in the war and China's War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the war situation on the Korean Peninsula escalated rapidly. In order to prevent the United States from threatening Chinese mainland, China requested the Soviet Union to extend the stationing of troops in lushun port, and the Soviet navy was stationed on the Liaodong Peninsula for several more years.
Fast forward to 1955, when the new generation of Soviet leaders, Khrushchev, fulfilled Stalin's promise and returned the port of Lushun. When Khrushchev visited China, Chairman Mao also expressed his concern that after the withdrawal of the Soviet army, the United States would take advantage of the situation to attack, which was also an important reason why China wanted to buy destroyers.
Both the leaders of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union seem to have inexplicable obsessions with the outlet of the Pacific Ocean. After a few years in power, Khrushchev began to expose his great power chauvinism. By 1958, China had already bought Soviet destroyers, and Khrushchev proposed the establishment of military long-wave radio stations on Chinese territory and the formation of a combined fleet with China.
At that time, China's naval strength was relatively weak, and Considering the Soviet Union's attempt to control China militarily, Chairman Mao did not agree.
The Soviet leaders who were "addicted to being fathers" wanted to interfere in China's internal affairs through military force and get involved in China's national defense, and naturally did not want the Chinese Navy to be too strong. This is the same reason that the Soviet Union proposed to provide "nuclear protection" for China and hoped that China would not develop nuclear weapons.
But it is still the same sentence, "It is better to have a father and a wife than to have itself", and China must study nuclear weapons at all costs, and it will not hesitate to spend a lot of money to build its own naval force. The attitude of the Chinese leaders is that we should not only buy warships, but also study technology and build our own warships in the future.
So Commander Xiao Jinguang instructed: Buy, we also want broken copper and rotten iron.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="53" > Navy's "Four Donkey Kongs"</h1>
In 1953, with the approval of the central government, the Chinese delegation signed the "Agreement on Naval Delivery and on Technical Assistance to China in the Construction of Warships", the core of which was the purchase of four destroyers.
From 1954 to 1955, four ships arrived in Qingdao. Although these 1500-ton destroyers were not advanced ships, they were already the best possessions for the Chinese Navy, which was poor at the time.
Some people proposed to name the destroyers in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but Xiao Jinguang believed that these names should be left to the future domestic large ships, and China's main task at that time was to develop industry, so let's name them with industrial cities.
After discussion, the four destroyers were named "Anshan Ship", "Fushun Ship", "Changchun Ship" and "Taiyuan Ship". Since the "Anshan Ship" is the first ship, this batch of "Type 07" destroyers is also known as the "Anshan-class Destroyer" by NATO.
Type 07 side view
These four destroyers have been the absolute main force of the Chinese Navy for a long time, and are known as the "four king kongs" of the navy.
China's industrial and political centers are in the north, and all four destroyers are assigned to the North Sea Fleet, which makes the East Sea Fleet and the South China Sea Fleet envious. After taking over the destroyer, the officers and men of the Chinese Navy studied assiduously, trained hard, and humbly consulted the Soviet officers and men, and soon mastered the operation essentials of the destroyer, so that the "four big Kongs" had the ability to fight independently.
101 "Anshan" ship, 102 "Fushun" ship, 103 "Changchun" ship, and 104 "Taiyuan" ship
In 1959, the "Anshan" and "Fushun" participated in the land, sea and air crossing landing exercise held in Zhejiang. When he saw that the "Anshan Ship" destroyed the former Japanese concrete fortifications that the Army had failed to penetrate with only 6 minutes of shelling, General Xu Shiyou could not help but shout.
The 1960s were the era when the "Four Kongs" shined. In April 1962, the "Anshan", "Taiyuan", and "Changchun" sailed out of the 12-nautical-mile territorial line and were ordered to monitor the US destroyer "Di Haiwen" that had come to collect intelligence, so that it did not dare to approach China's territorial waters.
In May, the "Taiyuan" and "Changzhou" hunting submarines, 3.8 nautical miles east of Fujian, expelled the US destroyer "Gregory", which departed from Keelung, Taiwan, and was reconnaissance of the Fujian coast.
In July, the U.S. destroyer USS Frank Noske intruded into Chinese territorial waters east of Tsingtao and used radar to detect PLA ships. The "Taiyuan" immediately went to the relevant sea area, and after 3 days of confrontation between the two sides, the US military was sad and gone.
104 ships "Taiyuan"
From September to October 1963, the US destroyer "Buru" repeatedly approached the area east of the Changshan Archipelago to reconnoiter the military deployment of the People's Liberation Army on the Shandong Peninsula. The "Anshan" and "Fushun ships" went to expel and confronted the US troops with live ammunition for 8 days until the "Blue" retreated.
In 1969, China began to transform the "Four Great Kongs". The Chinese navy dismantled the torpedo system on the Fushun ship, installed two upstream one anti-ship missile launchers, and new electronic navigation and radar equipment, and the displacement of the destroyer was expanded to 2500 tons. The following year, three other destroyers were also converted, and the "Four King Kongs" were transformed from ordinary destroyers to guided missile destroyers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="70" > merits live on</h1> forever
The Type 07 destroyer was in service from the 1950s to the 1990s, making it the longest-serving destroyer.
With the service of China's domestically produced Type 051 guided missile destroyers, the "07" type destroyers have gradually become old, and the "Four King Kongs" that were once the pillars of the Navy have also been retired.
In 1989, the "Fushun Ship" was decommissioned and dismantled into scrap iron by a shipyard in Jiangsu; in 1990, the "Changchun Ship" was decommissioned and bought as a display ship by Weihai City, Shandong Province; in 1991, the "Taiyuan" was decommissioned and renamed "Qingdao" as a practice ship; in 1992, the flagship "Anshan Ship" was decommissioned and preserved as a historical relic in the Qingdao Naval Museum.
The four destroyers purchased by China from the Soviet Union built the territorial sea defense in the early days of New China, reducing the threat of foreign hostility to China's coastal areas. At the same time, it has trained a large number of naval talents, accumulated a lot of experience for China's construction of domestic destroyers, and written a strong stroke in the history of China's naval development.
Many people think china spent 68 tons of gold to buy a Destroyer of World War II, and it is not worth it. However, the bureau said that it is not possible to see whether the value of the purchase is worth it, but to see whether the purchase is right or not. Without these 4 warships, the mainland would be invaded at any time, and the value of making national security free from external threats far exceeded the 68 tons of gold.
Xiao Jinguang
Nowadays, China's comprehensive national strength and military industrial strength have been greatly improved, from the 075 amphibious assault ship, the 052 guided missile destroyer to the 0.55 million tons of large-scale drive, and then to the domestic aircraft carrier, China not only has the ability to independently build large ships, but also the strength of the navy is among the forefront of the world.
The origin of New China and large surface ships began with the "Four King Kongs". China's achievements today are inseparable from the foundation laid by the Chinese Navy and the wise decisions of the predecessors at that time.