WOW！Shandong|24-year-old girl helms Shandong naval vessel

记者 王晓莹 实习生 程若琳

Tang Xiaojing: My mission is to protect the ocean ahead and our home behind

What is it like to helm an aircraft carrier in one’s 20s? Recently, the hashtag #24-year-old girl helms Shandong naval vessel# was among the top 10 trending topics. Many people liked and commented with “pretty cool and valiant”. Tang Xiaojing, born in 1998, is the helmsman. This is her third year of service on Shandong naval vessel. Tang has grown up to a sophisticated aircraft carrier helmsman from a newcomer through many times of exercises.

“Report to POOW (petty officer of the watch)! Helmsman Tang Xiaojing is on duty!” Tang Xiaojing steers the rudder steadily with confidence. The 10,000-ton naval vessel sails on the ocean under her control. As a helmsman, Tang Xiaojing executes orders expertly. However, she’s not always like this. In the beginning, Tang felt shocked when she went aboard the aircraft carrier and was very nervous to steer the helm independently for the first time. Today, she has become a sophisticated helmsman who can adjust the direction of navigation immediately and coordinate perfectly with the carrier-based plane faced with different sea states.

3 years ago, new graduate Tang Xiaojing obtained the certification after rounds of examinations. Although the aircraft carrier’s steering wheel is smaller than many car-steering wheels, its interconnected system is much bigger and the related equipment is more complicated. It’s pretty difficult for Tang to learn at first. However, she knew she could only learn to helm it well and steadily by spending more time on watching, learning, and exercising. On one occasion, when the carrier-based plane was ready to take off soon, the sea state suddenly changed, and the wind speed varied rapidly. Tang Xiaojing adjusted the sailing direction promptly to coordinate perfectly with the plane.

Last year, Tang Xiaojing passed the qualification assessment and obtained the “driving license” of the aircraft carrier. Now she spends most of her time on aboard every year, sometimes spends day and night reversed on the sea. But every time she stands in the driving cab, operates the helm, and pilots the aircraft carrier, and when she sees the blue sea, the dancing dolphins, the golden sunset and shining stars, she would be very excited because all these gorgeous scenes used to recur in her dreams.

As for the future, 24-year-old Tang Xiaojing said she hopes to be down-to-earth and complete missions on her duty. “My mission is to protect the ocean ahead and our home behind.”