ABSTRACT
After World War II, the Chinese Nationalist navy was virtually nonexistent, with the vast majority of its ships either destroyed or taken by the Japanese. With the outbreak of the war, however, some 2,000 Chinese naval officers and enlisted technicians were trapped in Great Britain and the United States. Many of these received training in order to staff China’s new post-war navy. By spring 1949, about a quarter of Nationalist navy’s total tonnage, and the bulk of its best ships, had defected to the Communist side. With a navy of its own, the Communist forces could now cross the Yangzi River and directly threaten Nanjing and Shanghai. The loss of major portions of the Nationalist navy also forced Chiang Kai-shek and his followers to retreat to Taiwan.
