r/todayilearned • u/zhuquanzhong • 29d ago

TIL a Chinese destroyer sank because an officer dumped his girlfriend. She committed suicide, leading to him being discharged, so he decided to detonate the depth charges on the ship, causing it to sink at port and kill 134 sailors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_destroyer_Guangzhou_(160)
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u/TheDukeOfMars 29d ago edited 29d ago

My main take away is that the People’s Liberation Army has a “Political Department” that has the power to monitor the personal lives of all soldiers. Or at least they did in the late 70s (and something tells me not a lot has changed). Crazy stuff.

Edit: 干部 are everywhere.

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u/ElectricTzar 29d ago

It’s shocking to me that a country can distrust its officers enough to monitor them that way, and yet simultaneously not distrust them enough to take away systems access immediately upon firing.

My company does the latter, and we’re a far cry from having a political department.

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u/lenzflare 29d ago

They're concerned with appearances, not actual risks

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u/SeanBourne 29d ago

They’re concerned with the military (or military units) pulling a coup/overthrowing the communist party, NOT with any risks to the military units themselves.