On November 27, 1958, amid the deafening sound of firecrackers and the cheers and applause that were louder than firecrackers, the "Leap Forward" made by New China itself and weighed more than 10,000 tons was officially launched and tried in Dalian.

On November 27, 1958, amid the deafening sound of firecrackers and the cheers and applause that were louder than firecrackers, the "Leap Forward" made by New China itself and weighed more than 10,000 tons was officially launched and tried in Dalian.

(Amid the cheers, Yuejin was launched to the water and tried voyage)

This news was like a whirlwind, immediately swept across the country, and everyone was very happy and excited about it.

And the reason why people are so excited is also related to the international situation at that time. At that time, the world was filled with anti-China political craze, and most countries had a relatively poor attitude towards China.

Especially when China conducts foreign trade: because it does not have its own ship, it is very difficult to rent foreign ships when transporting foreign ships. Especially when renting depends on the face of other countries, one price today, one price tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I said I couldn’t rent it recently...

This has accelerated the process of independently developing freighters.

Only by independently developing freighters can we get rid of foreign constraints and alleviate the dilemma of New China! Therefore, at all costs, we must develop our own ten-ton cargo ship belonging to New China!

It is in this context that the Yuejin was born.

Yuejin No.

Yuejin is a modern ocean freighter equipped with the most advanced technical equipment at that time, such as mechanization, automation, electrification equipment, etc.

As a ship's most important cargo capacity is as high as 13,400 tons! This was not small in the world at that time.

The speed of the Jump Forward is not slow either. It can reach 18:50 a.m. at an hour and at full load, it can sail 12,000 nautical miles with full fuel. It can be said that most ports in the world can reach it.

Jumping is even equipped with dedicated ice breaking equipment, which can sail smoothly even in frozen places.

But manufacturing is one thing, and testing and navigation testing are another thing. Although the New China has confidence in its technology, it is just starting a long voyage as soon as it was launched? That is simply irresponsible for the lives of the cargo ship and crew!

Jumping No.

Therefore, Jumping No. 1 has begun a long time to test, modify and improve. This process lasted for five years. It was not until 1963 that when all the data reached perfection, the Ministry of Transport of my country proposed to take the first flight to Japan by Yuejin, and begin to perform its work responsibilities and expand its external influence.

This request was approved by Premier Zhou: Although China and Japan have not established diplomatic relations yet, private trade is also OK! Just let the Japanese take a look and we Chinese also have our own ton-class cargo ship!

So, after loading the traded goods - corn at the two ports of Qingdao and Shanghai, Yuejin set off from Qingdao Port at 3:58 pm on April 30, 1963 and drove into the sea.

(The Yuejin set out from Qingdao for the first voyage)

When the Yuejin entered the sea, everyone was excited. This is the first voyage of China's first ton-class cargo ship! If it goes well, from then on, New China can get rid of the shackles of foreign countries and conduct ocean trade alone!

New China no longer has to look at other people's faces, renting a freighter! But while everyone was cheering, a harsh phone rang in the West Flower Hall of Zhongnanhai and in Premier Zhou's office.

"I was hit and my injury was severe." This is an emergency call for help from the phone. Premier Zhou's expression changed suddenly, and the Yuejin cargo ship sank in the southwest waters of Jeju Island, South Korea.

After receiving the message, Premier Zhou immediately arranged for the Chinese Navy warship to go to the vicinity of the ship to rescue people. Subsequently, Premier Zhou arranged an investigation team to investigate the reason for the sinking of Yuejin.

Leap Forward Number

Even if Premier Zhou arranged it properly, this sudden news still blew everyone silently like a bomb.Everyone couldn't believe that the giant ship that had left the sea was so good that it had sunk like this?

After only one day of going to sea, the Yuejin freighter disappeared like this?

When the news spread, the people of the whole country were in a panic. But some people sneered and said that they had expected this result long ago.

It turns out that although the Yuejin was built by the New China itself, it was also helped by some Soviet experts. With the joint efforts of the two countries, the Yuejin took only 58 days from completion to launching.

This was a miracle in the world at that time! Therefore, many people have doubts about this. Can a ship built so quickly be used? Is there a quality problem?

(On the 58th day, Yuejin completed the final assembly work)

This time, the Yuejin ship sank just one day after going out to sea, which further strengthened the ideas of this group of people. It must be because of the poor quality of the ship that caused the Jumping Sinking on its maiden voyage. I just said, can the ship that has been launched in the water for fifty-eight days be fine?

As for the ship being sunk? That must be an excuse for the crew to be afraid of being punished! It must be that the Yuejin number is of poor quality, so it sinks.

, is this really true?

Before the people who were discussing it came up with a unified result, Japan's "Asia Radio Station" had already issued a broadcast. The next day the Yu Yuejin sinks, a shocking news was released: the sinking of Yuejin was caused by three torpedoes being hit in the abdomen!

This time, everyone was shocked.

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is not a quality issue? Is the first 10,000-ton ship in New China attacked? Or was it attacked by torpedoes?

All countries in the world soon learned of the news, and they stared at Beijing cautiously, looking forward to the new China's response that was in their interests.

But unexpectedly, New China is unexpectedly cautious about this matter. No one knows why the fall of the Yuejin is. The Japanese say it is because of torpedo, do you believe it?

Maybe the Japanese devils have dug up the pit and are ready to cheat us! What's more, the international situation is like this. The sinking of the Yuejin is no longer a different disaster, but a political accident!

A little carelessness will affect international relations, and it is not impossible to break out in war!

Jumping number

must remain silent until the investigation is clear. This was the idea of ​​the central government at that time.

But the news media in other countries don’t care so much. They only know that after China’s freighter sank, this tenacious and tenacious country actually chose to stop the sound? Is there really something tricky about it? The incident

suddenly became the number one international news.

Washington, Moscow, London, Paris, Tokyo... Almost all countries have published this explosive news in newspapers and simultaneously stated that the Sleeping Swreck has nothing to do with itself.

(Japanese are watching the news of the sinking of the Leaping World)

Almost all countries that own the submarine and torpedo have issued statements, and the question is: How did the Leaping World sink? This problem became an unsolved mystery in the minds of many people at that time.

Later, Beijing also knew that the Japanese statement was not groundless. Because after the sank of the Leaping World, the Japanese rescued some of the crew members who fell into the water. It was these crew members who told them that the Leaping World had sunk because of three torpedoes in their bodies.

But even so, it must be investigated and judged in detail before the reason for the sinking of the Leap Forward will be announced to the world! The day after the Yuejin sinking, late at night on May 2, the crew of the Yuejin flew to Beijing and was received by Premier Zhou.

After the description of the manager, Premier Zhou learned about the scene that occurred when the Yuejin sinks.

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At that time, the Jumping Number was driving normally. All crew members performed their duties, were both excited and forced to calm down.But just as the freighter drove to the waters near Jeju Island, suddenly, a fierce sound came from the port side!

Immediately afterwards, there was a sound of anchor chain rubbing against the bottom of the ship. The hull suddenly waved left and right. Within a few seconds, two loud noises were made between the port side cargo warehouse and the boiler.

After the sound, something floated up in the distance and then sank again. After the hull leaned left, the sea water in flowed backwards ..., the Yuejin sank.

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. It is precisely because of these three loud bangs and things that floated like torpedoes that the crew agreed that the Leap Forward was sunk.

But the captain had different opinions on this: is it? I think it was clearly hit by the reef! How powerful are torpedoes? As for how to explain the thing that floats up, isn’t it normal for Yuejin to hit one or two reefs to hit?

After listening to the crew’s narrative, Premier Zhou fell into deep thought. You should know that in peacetime, when a merchant ship is attacked by a military force, it means declaring war on the country, and you must make a careful choice to find out the truth.

China is not afraid of any war, but it will not start a war easily. A careful and detailed investigation is not only responsible for others, but also for yourself.

Premier Zhou had all kinds of speculations in his mind.

Premier Zhou

For example, if you really suffer a torpedo attack, then it is highly likely that it was sent by a submarine. Since it is a submarine, it must be done by the Americans.

South Korea, Japan and Taiwan do not have submarines, and the Soviet Union will not attack our country for no reason. Therefore, it must be an attack by the Americans at , a nearby military base.

What if it was not sent by a submarine, but by a speedboat? That may be the conspiracy between the United States and Chiang Kai-shek and . There are also such possibilities. After all, Chiang Kai-shek's ambition has not yet disappeared, and he has the motivation and ability to attack.

Of course, other possibilities cannot be ruled out, such as sea storms, we operate improperly and lack experience, including what the captain said to have hit the reef, which is possible.

(Fever sea storms may also cause the sinking of the Jump Forward)

But no matter what kind of speculation is, a detailed investigation must be conducted before a conclusion can be drawn. Therefore, Premier Zhou decided to conduct an investigation as soon as possible to find out the truth!

However, investigating the reason for the sinking of Yuejin is not as simple as imagined.

First, near Jeju Island, South Korea, although the waters sunk by Yuejin are high seas, because there are South Korea and Japan around, the US troops stationed in Japan and South Korea have considerable military power and can extend to that sea area. However, China's military power is not enough to provide support, so China must be cautious and careful when investigating.

1. is because the nearby sank of Yuejin is Taiwan Strait . At that time, the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek had not given up on the idea of ​​counterattacking the mainland, so it was naturally a pleasure for him to sink the Yuejin. He will even use his own strength to obstruct China's investigation.

Chiang Kai-shek

But no matter how great the difficulties or risks are, they cannot hinder the Chinese people's determination to find the truth! In order to find out how the Yuejin sank, Premier Zhou personally deployed the investigation and decided to start a formal investigation from May 19, 1963!

During the investigation process, China encountered more difficulties.

First of all, it is the diver's problem. At that time, China did not have a regular diving force, the highest diving record was only 42 meters below the sea, and the area where the Yuejin sinked was 53 meters deep, which was undoubtedly not enough for salvage operations.

Every time one meter deep, the strong water pressure will cause huge damage to the human body.

But now things are imminent and there is no time to train.Premier Zhou personally issued instructions to select 25 divers with the best physical fitness and excellent skills from the country, and conduct concentrated training and pressure-added experiments!

(Comparison between diving records and shipwreck depth)

can be more than this one. Soon, the investigation team encountered a second problem: that is how to search for the Yuejin number. Although the Jumping No. 1 is a ton-class cargo ship with a length of more than 100 meters, it is just a larger grain of sand in the vast ocean. To find such a sunken cargo ship from the sea, it is undoubtedly a needle in a haystack.

At that time, China's science and technology were underdeveloped, and people could only use the most rustic and simplest way to find the sunken Yuejin: First, use sonar to detect the location of the seabed reefs and determine the approximate direction of the Yuejinjin.

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Then, tie a long steel cable to the two ships, and let the two ships drag back and forth repeatedly at the detected position. When they find that the progress is hindered, they can be sure that the steel cable has pulled something.

But this method is indeed stupid, because no one dares to be sure whether the thing that was pulled was a reef or a sunken freighter? You can only know if the diver goes down and see it for yourself.

After confirming that the steel cable pulled by the freighter did touch the things, the diver put on a heavy equipment weighing 130 kilograms and dived into the deep sea to confirm whether the cable encountered the sunken Jump Forward.

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I am very lucky. I found the sunken leap forward number the first time, and there was no wasted time! Just when everyone was happy, the diver who surfaced reported a chilling news.

He touched the keel of the leap forward. There was a rolled hole in the keel, which did look like it was left behind after being attacked by a torpedo.

Everyone was nervous. If the Yuejin was indeed attacked, not accidents... New China, which had just been recuperating for a while, might be facing war again.

A low roar sounded in the sea. It was the reconnaissance aircraft of the United States and Japan, and they were recording China's salvage operations. In the distance, there were also fleets of Soviet and Americans. Under the influence of this information, everyone's mood became very complicated.

war seems to be possible at any time. As long as China confirms that the Leap Forward was indeed caused by a torpedo, it can lock in the murderer - the United States.

US warship

Now, the US fleet is watching not far away. Even so, will we continue to salvage?

More importantly, Premier Zhou himself was at the scene...but Premier Zhou was not afraid at all. He waved his hand and continued to salvage! If Americans come, let them come, China is not afraid of these!

Premier Zhou instructed the investigation team not to care about interference from other countries. As long as the other party does not conduct military operations, then focus on salvage! No matter what the truth is, China is not afraid!

So, the divers got into the water for the second time with a nervous heart.

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Soon, the diver floated up. This time, they brought good news: it was not a hole, what they just touched seemed to be not a hole, but a rolled keel!

It turned out that when the Jumping Number sank, it was overturned by ninety degrees, and the keel that the diver touched was rolled up due to the overturning. Although it seems to be a hole, it is not caused by torpedo bombardment, but a normal phenomenon that occurs after the Jump Fork rolls over.

Then, the divers went into the water several times, and after multiple confirmed it, they finally overturned the possibility of Jumping being attacked by torpedoes.

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Everyone gave a breath, it seems that the war cannot be fought. But at the same time, doubts spread in people's hearts - the most likely torpedo attack was eliminated, which is certainly good. But if it weren't for the torpedo, how did the Leap Forward sink?

With such questions, the divers began to reconnaise again and again.Kung Fu is not a pragmatic person, and their exploration has finally made progress - they found a cracked hole that is more than twenty meters long and about thirty meters at the bottom of the ship.

This is also mentioned by the crew before, and it was confirmed by hearing the friction sound of the iron chains at the bottom of the ship. It is basically completely certain that the Yuejin did indeed sank from the reef!

(releasing the information under investigation)

But the cautious Premier Zhou still chose to continue exploring. Subsequently, more evidence was presented, perfecting the possibility of crashing into the reef and sinking.

First, in the reefs under the sea, there were traces of cracking by something, and then many rock fragments were found around them, and these fragments were retrieved as evidence. After

, the three divers also saw the purple-red paint skin on the reef, which was exactly the color of the paint at the bottom of the Yuejin number! They even checked the welds of the Jumping hull and found no abnormal changes or damage.

Under various evidence, we finally figured out the truth about the sank of the first 10,000-ton ship of the New China - it sanks from the reef, rather than being attacked by torpedoes.

(Xinhua News Agency issued a statement proving that Yuejin was indeed sinking)

The clouds of the war dissipated, and everyone let go of the hanging hearts in their hearts. After the truth was announced, the doubts in the hearts of the people of the world were also solved.

For China, the truth is revealed but does not mean the end of the matter. After all, Yuejin is equipped with advanced equipment, so it is best to be recycled. So the Chinese government prepared to salvage the wreck to see if it could be repaired.

However, the insurance company insured by Yuejin was afraid of something else. After paying the compensation for purchasing two Yuejin, it asked the Chinese government to give up salvage.

, and the situation near Jeju Island is complicated, and the Soviet-US warships are right aside. In order to prevent problems, Premier Zhou also decided to give up salvage of the shipwreck. On June 2, the fleet left the sea and returned to China.

At this point, the Yuejin cargo shipwreck incident ended.