After the founding of New China, our country actively strengthened and promoted naval construction, and the strength of the Chinese navy increased by leaps and bounds.
On May 15, 2002, the Chinese Navy embarked on its first circumnavigation of the world, setting a new military diplomatic record for the longest visit, the most countries and ports visited, and the longest voyage in the history of the People's Navy.
The voyage ended successfully after 132 days. However, an incident that did not seem to be a big one during the voyage aroused the attention and alert of many people.
When a Chinese warship passed through the Suez Canal , it was forcibly cut in line by an American warship. What is going on with ?
Sailing around the world, popular
On May 15, 2002, in Qingdao, China, our country's "Qingdao" guided missile destroyer and "Taicang" comprehensive supply ship were preparing to unmoor and set sail.
These two ships formed the Chinese navy's fleet and began the 21st trip of the People's Navy fleet, which was also the first round-the-world voyage.
It is worth mentioning that the two warships responsible for this voyage were both designed and built by our country. Their combat capabilities and long-distance voyage capabilities are very powerful, so everyone is full of confidence in this voyage.
Despite this, there are still many dangers and hardships during navigation.
According to the recollection of Li Yujie, the captain at the time, not long after they left Qingdao , there was a level 9 strong wind rolling huge waves towards the ship.
The battleship then rocked violently, and many crew members began to get seasick and vomited. It was not until the battleship stabilized that they slowly began to get better.
Another time, when just entering the Bosporus, a merchant ship sailed into the ship's channel.
Although the commander of the warship sounded the whistle to warn, the other merchant ship still did not change its course. Our country's ships quickly reduced their speed, but the danger still existed.
Seeing that the two sides were getting closer, the other merchant ship finally realized that it was yawing, and immediately changed its direction and passed the fleet.
Of course, in addition to the danger, the entire voyage was filled with moments of pride and pride.
Chinese naval ships have been invited to conduct joint military exercises with the Peruvian Navy and French Navy. There was no advance training for these two military exercises, and they were both held in response to the request of the other party.
Despite this, the two military exercises were still a complete success, which also reflects the confidence of our country's navy in front of the world's navies.
The entire voyage around the world is a voyage spreading the message of peace. The more than 500 officers and soldiers on the battleship are the friendly envoys of the Chinese people. Wherever the Chinese fleet went, it received many cheers and admirations.
However, what the officers and soldiers on the ship did not expect was that when the ship sailed to the Suez Canal, it encountered the United States' rude and arrogant queue-jumping.
U.S. warship, rudely cutting the queue
The Suez Canal is one of the most frequently used routes in the world. It connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It is the closest route connecting Europe to the Indian Ocean . All ships passing through are required to pay tolls. Navigable.
Because the geographical location is very important, there are many ships passing by, and the Suez Canal is very narrow, so it needs to be managed in an orderly manner, otherwise it will be blocked.
In order to facilitate management, the canal management method Egypt allows all ships to wait in the Gulf of Suez , and then ranks the ships. All ships pass in order according to their numbers.
At that time, the "Qingdao" and the "Taicang" entered the Gulf of Suez, received their numbers, and decided to rest for the night. They expected to enter the canal at six o'clock the next day.
As a result, when the two warships were preparing to set off, they discovered that an American warship had inserted in front of the ship and passed first.
Egypt not only did not stop this violation of order, but also dispatched naval gunboats and tugs to escort the US warship.
Why can American warships ignore the rules here and still enjoy such high-level treatment as Egypt? This has to start with the history of the Suez Canal.
Britain and the United States compete for Middle East influence
After the Suez Canal was officially opened in 1869, it has basically been dominated by Britain and France. The United Kingdom, in particular, attaches great importance to the Suez Canal.
A large number of ships in the UK need to enter and exit the Suez Canal every year. More than half of the oil imported by the UK needs to pass through the Suez Canal before being transported.
It can be said that the Suez Canal is of very important economic and strategic significance to Britain.
Unexpectedly, in July 1956, the Egyptian President stated in a speech in Alexandria that the Suez Canal would be nationalized by Egypt.
This decision caused strong reactions from Western countries, especially the United Kingdom. Britain even resorted to force to protect its interests in the canal.
At the beginning of the war, Britain hoped that the United States, as an ally, could support its military actions. However, the United States did not meet Britain's hopes.
On the one hand, the United States' interests in the Suez Canal are far less than those of the United Kingdom. The United States does not believe that this matter requires a major war.
On the other hand, the United States, Britain and France have conflicts on many issues, especially regarding the Middle East. The United States hopes to take this opportunity to squeeze out Britain's strength in the Middle East. In the end, with the intervention of the United Nations and the heroic resistance of the Egyptian people, Britain failed.
Since then, the United States has replaced Britain's position in the Middle East, and its influence in the Middle East has greatly increased.
Because of the United States' attitude towards the Suez Canal and its lack of support for the United Kingdom during this war, Egypt had a great impression of the United States. After the war, the relationship between Egypt and the United States improved greatly.
Since then, Egypt has always been very respectful to the United States because of the United States' strong comprehensive national power and huge influence in the Middle East.
However, this time the United States deliberately jumped in line. Was this arrogant and rude move done by the United States unintentionally or intentionally?
The Chinese Navy has developed rapidly
Since the founding of New China, the Chinese Navy, which had been poor and weak for centuries, has been reborn, and our country has its first real fleet.
Although the total assets of our navy at that time were only 9 gunboats, 8 landing ships, and 12 patrol boats, they were already much better than the armed steamers during the Anti-Japanese War.
Our country's leaders are very clear that New China urgently needs a strong navy to maintain national security and consolidate the new political power. Therefore, our country has also invested a lot of money and technology in the construction of the navy.
Just after Shanghai was liberated, the workers quickly restored the shipyards destroyed by the Kuomintang to production and tried their best to provide various gunboats and ships.
After unremitting efforts, in just over a year, our country's navy has grown to a small scale. The number of light landing ships has increased from 8 at the beginning to 22, and the number of other ships has increased exponentially.
In addition to the continuous improvement of its ability to manufacture ships, it also attaches great importance to the training of naval warriors.
When we first started building the navy, many officers and soldiers were accustomed to land warfare, but for the sake of building the country's navy, they rushed to the sea without hesitation.
They overcame seasickness, overcome the challenges of new knowledge, new fields, and new rules, and started from scratch to learn the skills needed by the navy.
Slowly, our country's new fleet began to mature. However, at this time, our navy cannot go too far into the sea and can only defend itself nearby.
The Party Central Committee proposed the strategy of "near-shore defense" based on the actual situation. While building a light fleet, build a coastal fortress.
With the continuous development of the national economy, the development of our country's navy has put forward new requirements and goals.
Our navy needs to obtain more three-dimensional and modern combat capabilities and needs to develop large and medium-sized surface combatants and nuclear submarines .
In order to support the continuous development of naval construction, in the 1970s, one-fifth of China's annual defense expenditure was spent on the construction and development of the navy.
Finally, under the call of " science and technology is the primary productive force ", the scientific and technological achievements of the People's Navy have been continuously transformed.
my country's independently developed destroyer has also been put into use. In 1980, my country's six destroyers were able to go to the South Pacific to perform intercontinental missile launch support activities.
Since then, the Chinese People's Navy has gradually begun to move toward the open sea. The strength of our navy has become stronger and stronger, and our country's voice overseas has also continued to increase.
In 1982, the basic development principles of our country's navy began to gradually expand, starting from "offshore defense" to "offshore defense".
The establishment of the strategic goal of "offshore defense" marks the development of our country's naval strategic system to a new height, and opens a new prelude to naval construction and the struggle to safeguard maritime rights and interests.
In just a few decades, the development speed of our country's navy is eye-catching.
Such developments have to be vigilant to the United States, especially the smooth progress of our country's global voyage, which has aroused dissatisfaction in the United States.
Global voyages have always been an important symbol of a country's globalization, a concentrated display of its comprehensive national strength, and a new starting point for a big country to become stronger.
Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why U.S. warships deliberately jump in line. It is simply to show our country and the world that it is still strong.
In the face of such provocative actions by the United States, what our country has to do is to continue to develop and strengthen our naval power.
Continue to focus on strengthening coastal defense capabilities
After entering the 21st century, the ocean has become a "new space" for cooperation and competition among countries. The importance of the ocean is self-evident.
Our government has also further proposed a national maritime strategy, placing maritime security in an extremely important position. The People's Navy has also achieved a historic leap with the support of the "China Maritime Strategy".
In 2012, the Chinese Navy's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" entered service. In 2017, China's first completely independently built aircraft carrier began to be launched.
Taking 2016 as a node, the number of main warships commissioned by the Chinese Navy exceeded that of the United States for the first time in history. Since then, the rate at which the Chinese Navy has commissioned large and medium-sized ships has also been at a high level.
A professor at the U.S. Naval War College once believed that a new fleet with Chinese characteristics could play a key role in the balance of world naval power.
In sync with equipment construction, the People's Navy began to pursue an "export-oriented" naval strategy.
In the national defense white paper published in May 2015, our country proposed the strategic guiding ideology of "combining offshore defense and distant sea defense".
The continuous transformation of strategic thinking also marks the continuous strengthening of my country's coastal defense construction.
As the Chinese navy continues to grow, it will not be that simple for other countries to join China's team.
Conclusion
The Chinese nation has a fine tradition of loving peace, being good-neighborly and friendly, and striving for self-improvement, which we have upheld to this day.
With the continuous development of my country's coastal defense industry, I believe that in the near future, the lineup of the People's Navy ship formations will be more perfect and effective, and our country's navy will play a more important role in maintaining world peace and stability in the future.
References:
Xu Feng Chinese Navy’s first round-the-world voyage - Interview with Li Yujie, the first Chinese captain to complete a circumnavigation and leader of a destroyer detachment of the Navy People’s Liberation Army Newspaper
Luo Huijun The United States and the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis Journal of Social Sciences of Hunan Normal University
Li Jianmei The Role and Influence of the United States in the Suez Canal Crisis Dissertation
Zhou Yulan Yin Zhaolu Research on the Strategic Transformation of the Chinese Navy since the Founding of New China Theoretical Observation 2021 Issue 7
