In 2001, a rusty aircraft carrier set sail from the Nikolayev Shipyard in Ukraine, and with the help of several tugs, it slowly sailed towards the Mediterranean Sea.
On the shore of Nikolayev , a group of Ukrainians looked solemn. Like parents sending off their children, they watched the giant ship in front of them disappear on the horizon.
Among the people seeing him off, there was a thin middle-aged man with tears in his eyes. His name was Vasily Babich, and he was one of the designers of this large ship. The history behind
is well known. This aircraft carrier named "Varyag" sailed at sea for more than half a year and finally came to China.
In the Bohai Sea of China, the "Varyag" was reborn and was transformed into the aircraft carrier " Liaoning " by the Chinese Navy.
But what is little known is that in addition to buying the "Varyag" in Ukraine , China also purchased a batch of shipbuilding materials in Ukraine and made contact with shipbuilding experts from the former Soviet era.
Babich, known as the "Father of Varyag", later worked in China.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the military industry left by the Soviet Union was divided up by the member countries. However, the economies of the CIS countries were weak, and most countries could not afford to support these experts, resulting in many experts becoming unemployed.
For example, Babbage became a writer after losing his job. He earned royalties from writing novels to support his family. It is said on the Internet that he was later hired by the Chinese government to Qingdao to work in his line of work.
Later, Babic, like the "Varyag", had a second spring in China. It was rumored on the Internet that he participated in China's later aircraft carrier design, adding another glorious touch to his career.
So, how legendary is the life of "Father of Varyag" Babich? Did he really come to Qingdao to help China build aircraft carriers?
1. The story of the Soviet Red Navy and aircraft carriers
Valery Vasilyevich Babich, Ukrainian , was born in Zaporozhye, Ukraine, in 1941.
Babic's father was a newspaper reporter, who was among the elite in the Soviet Union at that time, so their family lived a very wealthy life.
In January 1941, when Babbage was born, the Soviet Union was still calm.
But in June of that year, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Millions of German troops reduced the western Soviet Union to ruins. Babbage and his family were forced to leave their hometown and evacuate to the rear.
Fortunately, Babbage's father was a journalist, so he did not fight on the front lines during the war. Instead, he worked as a military reporter and survived until the war.
After World War II , the Babich family returned to Ukraine. In 1950, his father's job was transferred to Nikolaev in the south. Babich moved with his family to the south and spent most of his life here.
Nikolaev is one of the most important shipbuilding bases in the Soviet Union. Since the era of Tsarist Russia, it has been the backbone of the Russian Navy.
This city was almost born for the shipyard, and local young people also aim to work in the shipyard.
Influenced by the city of Nikolayev, Babic was later admitted to the Nikolayev Naval Academy and learned to build warships.
It was the 1950s, and the Soviet Red Navy had just begun the first post-war "shipbuilding wave." So, after graduating from university in 1959, Babic worked at the Nikolayev Shipyard, where he worked for 30 years.
The Soviet Navy faced a choice after the war: compete with the United States on the ocean, or take its own unique route.
The top Soviet officials looked at the dozen or so U.S. aircraft carrier fleets, but their own aircraft carriers were "zero". In the end, they chose not to confront the U.S. military and took a defensive route.
In fact, the Soviet Army had long had plans to build an aircraft carrier, but it was shelved indefinitely during the Khrushchev era.
At that time, Comrade Khrushchev believed that aircraft carriers were outdated and had no competitiveness in the face of tactical nuclear weapons . Therefore, in that era, the Soviet army used the cruiser as the main maritime ship, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as its trump card, and tactical nuclear bombs as its weapons.
It was not until Khrushchev stepped down in 1964 that the Soviet Navy began to revisit the possibility of building an aircraft carrier.
html In the late 160s, the Soviet "helicopter carriers" Moscow-class aircraft carriers were born. These warships are not so much aircraft carriers as cruisers equipped with helicopter landing platforms, so the Soviets also call them "aircraft carriers", not "aircraft carriers". aircraft carrier.
And Nikolaev Shipyard is the only place in the Soviet Union that can build aircraft carriers, so as a young backbone, Babbage has naturally experienced the design and construction of every Soviet aircraft carrier in his 30 years in the industry.
At first, Babbage was only responsible for the design of some weapon functions of the aircraft carrier. After all, these "aircraft carrier cruisers" have a large number of anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles equipment.
After the 1970s, Babbage was able to participate in the overall design of the aircraft carrier and became the main designer of the Soviet second-generation aircraft carrier.
Babich participated in the design of the Soviet Union's real "quasi-aircraft carrier" Kiev-class light aircraft carrier.
With the launch of the Soviet medium-sized aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the 1980s, a number of shipbuilding industry giants such as Babbage were also trained.
2. The far east is the hope of Soviet aircraft carriers
The three "Kuznetsov-class" aircraft carriers in the late Soviet Union have a displacement of more than 50,000 tons. They are medium-sized aircraft carriers and can independently support an aircraft carrier fleet. Among them are Includes " Varyag number ".
But when these ships were built, the Soviet economy was already in trouble, and even bread in the country had to be queued up to buy.
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, there were still two "Kuznetsov-class" ships that were not completed. In the end, the "Kuznetsov" with a higher degree of completion was taken away by the Russian Navy , while the "Kuznetsov" that was 60% completed The Varyag was soaked in water.
Another aircraft carrier at Koniglaev Shipyard, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Ulyanovsk" whose hull had been built, was deceived by the United States and dismantled, causing heavy losses to the shipyard. Therefore, the future of "Varyag" has attracted great attention from the world.
At that time, the Nikolayev Shipyard insisted on auctioning the "Varyag" as a whole. Although the Ukrainian government agreed, it required that the ship not be used for military purposes under the coercion of the United States.
China went to Ukraine to participate in the auction, but was initially rejected by the Ukrainians. Later, the Chinese Navy spent a full 20 million U.S. dollars through private channels to acquire the ship in the name of renovating a gambling ship.
In 1999, the "Varyag" set sail from Ukraine, and Babich was among the send-off team. After seeing "Varyag" leave Nikolaev, Babbage fulfilled his wish. He chose to quit the shipbuilding industry and concentrate on being a writer.
Babich was born in a family of journalists, so his writing skills are very good and he has won many literary awards in Ukraine. But deep down in his heart, he still loves his lifelong shipbuilding career.
But in Ukraine at that time, it was impossible for the Nikolayev Shipyard to build ships, and the shipyard could no longer even pay wages.
Babich later wrote a series of memoirs and essays, mainly focusing on the shipbuilding industry in the Soviet era and his own personal experience, but his words always revealed regret for the shutdown of the shipyard.
In 2012, Russian media reported that Vasily Babich, the former Soviet shipbuilding expert known as the "Father of Varyag", went to China to control the construction of future aircraft carriers for the Chinese Navy.
As soon as the news came out, it quickly attracted the attention of China, Russia and Ukraine.
Because in this year, the "Liaoning" aircraft carrier transformed from the "Varyag" was officially put into service. This legacy left by the former Soviet Union has been reborn in China, which has attracted many old experts from the Soviet era. Inspiring and uplifting.
Babich is a Soviet aircraft carrier "production design" expert . This link is the end of aircraft carrier construction and is specifically responsible for mobilizing resources and manpower to turn the aircraft carrier from drawings into reality.
In the shipbuilding industry, the most important coordinator between the "design institute" that designs ships and the "shipyard" that builds ships is the production design expert. This person must understand both technology and design, as well as management. Such talents are in short supply around the world.
html At the beginning of the 121st century, the United States was poaching people in Ukraine, and Babbage was invited to work in the United States. However, Babbage, who was not interested in the West, refused the invitation and chose to stay in Ukraine.
After 2012, there were widespread rumors on the Internet that Babbage came to China, but there is not much evidence.
But in 2014, Babbic won the "Qilu Friendship Award" of Shandong Province. This award is specially awarded to foreign experts, and it also proves from the side that Babbic at least has some cooperation with the Chinese shipbuilding industry.
3. Produced by Chinese aircraft carrier , did Babbage contribute?
According to external analysis at the time, China will build two aircraft carriers by 2020 and another three aircraft carriers by 2030, for a total of six aircraft carriers.
Among them, the "Varyag" purchased from Ukraine in the early days and the ski-jump aircraft carrier imitated from the "Varyag" will not be incorporated into the combat fleet, but will be responsible for training carrier-based aircraft pilots and aircraft carriers staff.
In the future, "catapult aircraft carriers" will form an aircraft carrier fleet and be deployed on the ocean.
Coincidentally, Babbage happened to have production experience in both "ski jump" and "catapult" aircraft carriers.
He participated in the design and construction of the ski-jump "Varyag". The last nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the Soviet Union was originally planned to be equipped with a "steam ejection" system. Babbage also had an understanding of the design and construction of this kind of aircraft carrier.
After the news came out, Babbage became very low-key. Except for his name occasionally appearing on some award lists, he rarely appeared in public, and his writing work was put on hold for a long time.
It was not until 2017 that Babic began to accept media interviews, especially interviews with Russian media. Babic said that he had been to China and had cooperation with China in the shipbuilding industry, but it did not involve military projects.
According to information on the Internet, the place where Babic works is called "China-Ukraine Special Ship Research Institute", located in Qingdao, Shandong Province.
This institute is jointly run by China and Ukraine. In addition to Babich, there are also a group of Ukrainian shipping industry experts working in it, most of them from the famous "Ukrainian Black Sea Design Bureau".
What is strange is that the projects of this design bureau are all commercial, such as special ships for transporting fuel, large cruise ships, high-horsepower tugboats, water lifting platforms, etc.
According to Babic’s family, Babic has lived in Ukraine for a long time and only “lived briefly” in China and did not serve the Chinese Navy.
According to these news, we can speculate that Babbage may be working in Ukraine and occasionally come to China for exchanges. As for the specific work details, there are no details online, and my country will presumably not announce them to the outside world.
It is widely rumored that "Babiqi came to China to help build aircraft carriers", but it seems unrealistic now. But it is also possible that Babbage may come to China to give lectures or make suggestions for design work.
In any case, as a star of the Soviet shipbuilding industry, Babbage's cooperation with China will benefit China's shipbuilding industry without any harm.
In 2022, China's electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier "Fujian" was launched, which means that China's aircraft carrier technology has kept up with the United States, surprising the world.
In the development of China's aircraft carrier, Ukrainian experts have played an important role. They have greatly helped the Chinese military industry in ship design, engines, carrier-based aircraft, etc. Their deeds should be remembered by history.
Text/Shang Xueye
Reference: "Varyag's Constructor Talks about the "Liaoning" Aircraft Carrier" Guo Xuan
