BEIJING: From nuclear-powered submarines beneath the waves to destroyers on the open sea, names that originated in China’s Long March now travel far beyond the routes once taken by the Red Army in the 1930s. The name Changzheng, or Long March, has become the hallmark of China’s nuclear submarines, while warships named Zunyi, Chishui and Aba, important places along routes of the Long March, carry reminders of the epic journey into today’s naval missions.
Ahead of Thursday’s 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, China’s military is reflecting on how that experience helped shape its direction and development. Experts said the legacy lives on in the equipment China builds: the pursuit of independent innovation and the determination to overcome formidable obstacles give these historic names a meaning that extends beyond remembrance.
That connection stretches from Long March-1, China’s first nuclear-powered submarine, commissioned in 1974, to the third generation of Long March nuclear submarines and a recently reported strategic missile test by a nuclear-powered submarine, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency. Alongside them, successive generations of surface warships have carried the names of places associated with the Long March, linking the navy’s expanding capabilities with its revolutionary heritage.
The Long March was an epic military trek from 1934 to 1936 that broke through the encirclement of Kuomintang forces. Red Army soldiers braved raging rivers, snow-covered mountains and treacherous grasslands, with some marching as far as 12,500 kilometers. The maneuver helped lay the foundation for the eventual victory of the Chinese revolution.
Ruijin, Zunyi, Chishui, Aba and Liupanshan are some of the places associated with that arduous undertaking, which culminated with the joining of the Red Army’s main forces in October 1936. Nine decades later, its influence can be traced in a very different setting: China’s naval fleet.
China’s Long March nuclear submarines have developed to a third generation, and a Long March nuclear submarine has had a successful test launch of a submarine-launched strategic missile, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.
This evolution follows a path that began with the country’s first nuclear submarine entering service in 1974.
According to CCTV News, the name Long March was adopted following a worker’s suggestion. It reflected the difficulties overcome in developing the submarine and symbolized its endurance and ability to undertake missions in distant waters. The name subsequently became a defining feature of China’s nuclear submarine force.
The development of China’s strategic nuclear submarines has focused on quieter operations, greater stealth and survivability, improved diving performance and greater diving depths, Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday. He also pointed to the pursuit of greater missile capacity and longer missile ranges.
Naming the submarines after the Long March honors that history and carries forward a commitment to overcoming hardship, making sacrifices and following a path of self-reliance, Zhang said. It reflects the circumstances in which Chinese military equipment was developed, with external technological restrictions compounded by a weak domestic industrial base at the time.
Overcoming those barriers required a determination comparable to that of the Long March, Zhang said. The name therefore connects the difficulties of the revolutionary journey with the challenges faced by generations of equipment developers.
That connection also runs through the names of surface warships. Li Junjie, an associate professor at the School of History and Culture of the Minzu University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday that many names in the military’s equipment buildup draw on places associated with the Long March.
Zunyi in Guizhou Province is associated with the conference that marked a pivotal turning point in the history of the Communist Party of China, and it has lent its name to two generations of destroyers, Li said. The succession allows the historical memory embodied in the name to continue as the ships themselves evolve.
The current Zunyi is an independently developed and built Type 055 guided-missile destroyer of a 10,000-ton class. Since entering service, it has undertaken combat-readiness patrols, maritime rights-protection operations and joint exercises involving multiple services and branches, according to Chinese media reports. It spends more than 200 days at sea annually on average and has sailed nearly 180,000 nautical miles.
Its predecessor, a Type 051 guided-missile destroyer also named Zunyi, was decommissioned in 2019 after more than 30 years of service, according to China’s Defense Ministry.
Zhang said that People’s Liberation Army Navy’s Type 055 destroyers have strong far seas capabilities, citing their strong air and missile defense capabilities and their ability to engage surface ships, submarines and land targets. In the future, he said, the Long March spirit will continue to encourage equipment development toward greater use of intelligent technologies and unmanned systems, strengthening the PLA Navy’s ability to perform diverse missions and conduct integrated combat operations. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
