Text | Documentary in the Movies
Editor | Documentary in the Movies
Preface
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, having an aircraft carrier and strengthening the navy has always been the beautiful vision of thousands of Chinese people.
In the 1990s, our country officially put the development of the aircraft carrier on the agenda, and spent 20 million US dollars to purchase the aircraft carrier Varyag in 1998, taking the first step in the development of our country's aircraft carrier industry.
However, when the Varyag was being consigned back to China, Turkey severely obstructed the Varyag's passage through the Black Sea Strait.
even offered my country a US$1 billion " risk deposit ", which is actually extortion of "tolls."
Did China get rid of this money later?
Varyag aircraft carrier
Purchase of Varyag
Everything that happened begins with my country's purchase of Varyag.
In 1991, the Soviet Union finally collapsed.
At the same time, the person in charge of the Nikolayev Black Sea Shipyard in Ukraine fell into a long silence.
He clearly understood that the Soviet Union's previous orders for the construction of the "Varyag" and "Ulyanovsk" aircraft carriers would forever become stagnant.
Even though the construction rate of "Varyag" aircraft carrier has reached 68%, the last 32% of the progress bar cannot be completed by the Soviet Union.
The disintegration of the Soviet Union means that these two aircraft carriers will all be owned by Ukraine.
However, how to deal with these aircraft carriers has become a headache.
At first, the Ukrainian government planned to dismantle the "Varyag" and eventually sell this pile of scrap to the United States.
However, when they calculated the bill clearly with their fingers and calculators, they realized that the deal was not a good deal.
The cost for workers to dismantle the "Varyag" into scrap metal was US$250 million, but they could only earn US$5 million by selling the scrap metal to the United States.
If such a deal is really made, then Ukraine will have to lose everything?
At this time, the Ukrainian government thought that it might as well find a new buyer for this aircraft carrier, and immediately sent a link to the product with only one stock in stock to the world.
When Reuters reported the news that Ukraine was going to sell the Varyag aircraft carrier in 1997, the whole country of China was in a boil. Everyone did not want their motherland to miss this opportunity to own an aircraft carrier.
Finally, Xu Zengping was instructed to discuss the purchase of the Varyag with Ukraine in the name of Chuanglu Group .
Xu Zengping
In the end, the Ukrainian government agreed to sell the Varyag to China for $18 million.
Then Xu Zengping added another US$2 million and bought the blueprints for building an aircraft carrier from Black Sea Shipyard .
Seeing that the purchase of the aircraft carrier has been negotiated, the United States, which learned the news, stepped in and interfered in this matter.
In fact, long before China purchased the Varyag, the United States had already been obstructing China's construction and development of aircraft carriers, and it did not hesitate to tell three big lies about this.
The Americans did not hesitate to use "aircraft carriers are obsolete" and "should look beyond Star Wars" as gimmicks to confuse China. However, our country has seen through these scams one by one with its wisdom.
After realizing that China’s determination to develop an aircraft carrier could not be shaken, the United States began to play rogue.
The United States used this matter to put pressure on Ukraine, saying that Ukraine can use China's aircraft carrier, but it must dismantle all ship-based weapons, otherwise the United States will "you're welcome" to Ukraine.
The Soviet Union, the only country that could compete with the United States at that time, had already disintegrated. How could Ukraine dare to say anything more.
They immediately dismantled the Varyag in accordance with the requirements of the United States. At the end of the disassembly, the aircraft carrier only retained an empty shell, with nothing inside, and it did not even have the ability to sail independently.
In view of this situation, our country can only arrange another giant tugboat to tow this aircraft carrier back to the country.
According to the plan, the Varyag aircraft carrier will first travel from the Black Sea the Turkish Strait , then arrive at the Mediterranean Sea , and then pass through the Suez Canal directly into the Red Sea, and finally dock at a Chinese port.
The entire return plan will last for a full sixty days.
However, what the Chinese people did not expect was that the Varyag aircraft carrier encountered obstacles at the first pass in the Black Sea after its trip.
Türkiye's Threat
The Turkish Strait is the only passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and is the only way for the Varyag.
It includes three parts: Istanbul Strait , Sea of Marmara and Dardanelles . Among them, the narrowest Istanbul Strait is 708 meters at its narrowest point and only 27.5 meters at its shallowest point.
The Montreal Straits Convention of 1936 stipulates that large-scale warships must apply to the sovereign state of the strait to pass before they are approved.
This sea area is Türkiye’s territorial waters, and it has decision-making power and jurisdiction over this sea area.
Although the Varyag at this time only had an empty shell, strictly speaking, it could not be regarded as a warship.
However, the Turkish authorities do not think so. In other words, as long as it is unreasonable enough, even a straw boat built by Zhuge Liang can be regarded as a threatening warship if it wants to pass through its territory.
At the same time, the United States was also putting pressure on the Turkish government. Turkey was happy to have both sides and rejected the Varyag's application to pass through the Turkish Strait.
In this way, the Varyag stagnated in the Black Sea.
Faced with the obstruction of the Turkish government, our government immediately stepped forward to coordinate.
In view of the fact that Turkey has repeatedly blocked the release of the Varyag on the grounds that "the passage of warships will pose a threat to the security of the strait", our country immediately started from this aspect and solved the problem through negotiations.
At the negotiating table, my country has continuously emphasized that it will fully bear the safety and insurance costs of the Varyag passing through the strait, and will be responsible for compensation in the event of losses.
Even though we are full of sincerity, Turkey has been struggling with this issue and delayed the release again and again.
Faced with Türkiye’s rogue attitude, China has repeatedly mediated with it through various agreements.
At the negotiating table, China has been offering favorable conditions to the Turkish government, including opening up tourism to Turkey and providing military and technical assistance to Turkey.
With the signing of various agreements, Türkiye's attitude finally changed.
However, what is unexpected is that Türkiye will once again "open its mouth" to my country when it is about to release the goods.
On August 25, 2001, after more than two years of negotiations, the Turkish government finally agreed to release it.
On the same day, our country received a document from Turkey regarding 20 relevant safety measures and conditions for the Varyag to pass through the strait.
These 20 safety measures can be roughly divided into three aspects. The first aspect is about the conditions of the tugboat technical plan, and the second aspect is about the conditions of hydrological and weather conditions.
The conditions set by Türkiye can be described as extremely stringent.
For example, it is required that 16 high-horsepower tugboats be required to escort Varyag through the strait (in fact, 8 tugboats can solve the problem). It is required that the line of sight of the strait should not be less than 5 kilometers, the water flow should not be greater than 3 knots, and the wind power should not be greater than level 5, etc.
These conditions, which can be called difficult, are really daunting, but nothing can defeat our determination to bring the Varyag back to China.
After obtaining these 20 conditions, our technical staff immediately plunged into intense preparation.
These conditions are still possible to be realized through the efforts of our country's technical personnel.
However, one of these 20 conditions was extremely excessive, once again breaking our delegation’s perception of the Turkish government as a rogue.
The Turkish government requires China to provide a "risk deposit" of US$1 billion to ensure that the aircraft carrier can safely pass through the strait.
In addition to the shocking huge amount, Türkiye also requires that the deposit be guaranteed by a Turkish bank and be irrevocable for two years.
If our country really wants to comply with Turkey's requirements, it will cost 30 million US dollars in handling fees alone, which is far more than the price of our country's purchase of aircraft carriers.
However, our country has already purchased an aircraft carrier for US$20 million, and we cannot just leave the aircraft carrier in the Black Sea. The cost of docking here for a day is as high as US$8,000, which is not a small amount of money.
The conditions set by Türkiye in the agreement are undoubtedly naked blackmail and extortion against our country.
Our country will naturally not pay for this "toll".
In order to negotiate with Turkey on the issue of aircraft carrier passage through the Strait, a Chinese delegation composed of officials from the Ministry of Transport and shipping experts was established and rushed to the Turkish negotiating table as soon as possible.
At the negotiating table, the Chinese delegation once again emphasized that it will fulfill the safety project conditions set by the Turkish government, and repeatedly stated that our country will be responsible for all problems caused by the Varyag when it passes through the strait.
In addition, our country also installed various safety measures on the Varyag, and also hired the world's most powerful Russian tugboat Nikolai Chikel to show that China was involved in this incident. Sincerity in matters.
Faced with a series of strict security preparations by China, although Turkey has relaxed its attitude toward risk deposits, it is actually still in a stalemate with China and still has illusions about high deposits.
Under such circumstances, China can only ask Greece to serve as the safety guarantor for the Varyag when it passes through the Turkish Strait.
Seeing that a NATO country like Greece was willing to stand up and guarantee it, the Turkish government finally lost all reasons for obstruction and had no choice but to let it go.
This high deposit is ultimately nothing more than Türkiye’s impossible delusion.
The Varyag returned to China
November 1, 2001, was the day when the Varyag passed through the strait.
The Istanbul Strait was calm and calm on this day, meeting all the stringent conditions for the Varyag to pass through the strait.
At this time, the Turkish government closed the originally busy waterway to leave sufficient space for the Varanger to pass.
Under the watchful eyes of many onlookers on both sides of the strait, the Varyag advanced slowly on the sea under the leadership of the tugboat.
The whole process was broadcast in real time by the TV station, and about 3 million people watched this grand scene at the same time.
After more than ten hours of slow sailing, the Varyag finally sailed safely through the narrow Istanbul Strait.
At this time, all the Chinese people breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time were extremely looking forward to the Varyag finally docking at a Chinese port.
However, when the Varyag sailed into international waters near Skyros Island in the Aegean Sea, it encountered a huge storm at sea.
This caused the tow cable connecting the Varyag to the tugboat to be severed, and it immediately lost control.
Skyros Island
This behemoth ran rampant on the sea, and even almost hit Evia Island.
Fortunately, the rescuers took control of the ship in time. A Greek rescue helicopter also rescued the seven crew members on the ship and sent them to the military airport in Athens for treatment as soon as possible.
In the next few days, the rescuers worked hard and finally used tugboats to control the Varyag again and took him slowly into the normal course.
Then the Varyag was blocked again when it wanted to pass through the Suez Canal after passing through the Mediterranean.
In the end, the Varyag changed its route and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, then rounded the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and entered the Indian Ocean, and sailed into the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca.
On March 4, 2002, the Varyag finally docked at the Port of Dalian, China, after going through many hardships and obstacles.
The Chinese people who had been waiting for a long time in Dalian Port couldn't help but cheer warmly when they saw the Varyag.
Originally, the voyage only took sixty days, but the Varyag took more than two years to complete the entire journey. Only the Chinese can understand the hardships involved.
The arrival of Varyag has ushered in a new stage in the development of our country's aircraft carrier industry.
After conducting an overall study of the Varyag and studying the drawings, our country's scientific researchers have finally moved from years of theoretical research to a real practical process in the research and development of aircraft carriers.
In 2005, our country officially renovated and built the "Varyag". The entire process took six years and was finally completed successfully.
After more than ten water-testing experiments, the performance of the "Varyag" was tested to fully meet the standards, and it was officially renamed " Liaoning ship " by the Chinese navy and began service in the Chinese navy. career.
After my country had its first aircraft carrier, the development and construction of the second aircraft carrier began quickly. In just five years, my country's first independently developed aircraft carrier "Shandong Ship" was successfully unveiled.
Just this year, my country's third aircraft carrier "Fujian Ship" was officially launched.
After that, our country’s goal is to develop a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, so that the navy’s strength will be strengthened again and it will embark on a farther and vast journey.
Epilogue
"It takes ten years to build a ship, and you can show your magical skills at sea."
Looking back at the return journey of the Varyag, the predecessor of the Liaoning ship, we are actually looking back at the difficult journey of the development and construction of aircraft carriers in our country.
During this process, our country encountered technical difficulties and also suffered suppression and threats from external international forces.
However, our country did not choose to give up and bow its head because of these difficulties. Instead, it persisted in its original aspiration and was bound to build an aircraft carrier, a powerful maritime weapon, to guard the security of our country's territorial waters.
The continuous appearance of my country's aircraft carriers is undoubtedly a demonstration of the powerful military power of the Chinese navy, and also demonstrates the determination of our military to defend national sovereignty.
Nowadays, China is constantly strengthening its own armaments. This is not to oppress or pose a threat to other countries, nor does it want to develop the so-called hegemony.
It is to achieve a balance of power so that our country has the confidence to defend its homeland and maintain peace.
The current strength and rejuvenation of the motherland is the result of the hard work and struggle of generations of predecessors. To realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the future, all Chinese people will need to stay true to their original aspirations and work hard!
