Making the Classroom Truly Connect with the "Winds and Waves" of the Battlefield: How One Model Course Ventured into the "Deep Water"
**News Sample | Classroom Connects to Battlefield | Ready for Duty upon Graduation**
■ Chen Jia, Tan Silin
The sea surface was calm, but powerful undercurrents surged beneath. During a maritime exercise, an alarm suddenly blared inside the compartment of a submarine. "Suspicious sonar signal detected! Emergency dive!" Deputy Chief of Machinery Li Zhengyuan moved the instant the order came, his fingertips racing across the control panel, his commands ringing clearly throughout the entire vessel.
The submarine dove rapidly, the hull trembling slightly. Several minutes later, the hull hovered steadily at the designated depth. In the command compartment, Li Zhengyuan fixed his gaze on the display screen, calmly issuing follow-on adjustment orders, precisely monitoring every parameter change to ensure the vessel maintained a stable attitude.
A year ago, Li Zhengyuan was still a fourth-year officer cadet at the Naval University of Engineering. Today, he has grown into a deputy chief of machinery capable of handling responsibilities independently. Speaking of Li Zhengyuan, the submarine's leadership offered praise: "In previous years, graduates from the machinery specialization needed a long time to adapt to their posts. But now, cadets like Li Zhengyuan can hit the ground running the moment they arrive — the change is very pronounced."
This remarkable transformation is inseparable from the bold teaching reforms the Naval University of Engineering has been driving. Years ago, Professor Peng Likun and his team conducted in-depth research at frontline submarine units and discovered a gap between what was taught in the classroom and the actual demands of posts in the force — cadets were unable to rapidly develop combat effectiveness.
"Wherever the battlefield's demands lie, that is where the target of talent cultivation must be aimed." Peng Likun's team anchored itself to the principle of "demand-driven, combat-oriented" (需求牵引、实战导向), going deep into units to analyze the core capability requirements of each post. With the university's support, they subsequently restructured and rebuilt the curriculum system. They innovated teaching models, extending the classroom to the front lines of exercises and training; substantially increased the proportion of practical instruction; built a tiered, progressive, combat-realistic hands-on training system that tempers cadets' solid skills in simulated battlefield environments; and simultaneously reformed the assessment and evaluation mechanism, incorporating key indicators such as battlefield adaptability and military command competence into evaluation standards.
The results of the curriculum reform appeared rapidly on the exercise and training ground. Graduate cadet Zuo Jingsheng completed emergency sortie preparations in the shortest time during a major exercise; graduate cadet Deng Xiaohu successfully accomplished a cross-region mobile emergency mission on his first attempt, relying on his solid capabilities… Today, the experience from this curriculum development has been incorporated into the Navy's guidance outline for teaching reform at military academies, providing a replicable "model" for resolving the problem of "disconnection between teaching and combat" (教战脱节).
In the military-wide model course competition, the *Submarine Maneuvering* course, reformed under the leadership of Professor Peng Likun, was successfully selected. This is not only an affirmation of the curriculum reform's achievements, but also a vivid embodiment of military academy talent cultivation precisely aligned with battlefield demands.
From the military academy classroom to the deep-sea battlefield, batch after batch of outstanding cadets like Li Zhengyuan are rapidly growing into the backbone of combat capability building in the force, relying on their solid professional competence and proven combat abilities. The synchronized resonance between academies and units is making talent cultivation ever more "on the right track" (对路子), injecting inexhaustible momentum into the Navy's mission of forging swords in the deep sea and striving for maritime strength.
*Naval University of Engineering cadets engage in post-class discussion.*
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**Reporter's Investigation | Advancing Toward Combat: How One Model Course Ventured into the "Deep Water"**
■ Wang Sisi, PLA Daily Reporter Wang Yue, Special Correspondent Zhang Jiahao
Red and blue dots flickered like sparks on an electronic nautical chart; a deep buzzer alarm suddenly sounded inside a simulation compartment; several undergraduate cadets in the submarine machinery command specialization quickly gathered around the command screen as a combat-realistic course assessment got underway…
Confronted with a complex sea area and multiple special situations, cadets frankly said "the exam questions and methods are completely different now." This assessment, conducted from the perspective of future warfare, vividly embodies the Naval University of Engineering's teaching philosophy of "combat-teaching coupling" (战教耦合).
In the military-wide model course competition, the university's newly upgraded *Submarine Maneuvering* course stood out with its innovative concept of "precisely aligning with battlefield demands and empowering combat research and teaching through science and technology." Course director Peng Likun reflected: "Curriculum reform must dare to venture into the 'deep water.' The transformation from classroom to battlefield, from theory to practice, is the inevitable choice in the development of military education, and the correct navigational bearing toward victory."
*Naval University of Engineering instructors explain theoretical knowledge to cadets.*
**Self-Revolution — Daring to Renovate and Reshape a Course That Was Once Universally Acclaimed**
Inside a simulation training center at the Naval University of Engineering, indicator lights flickered on and off, and the low, continuous hum of electromechanical equipment resembled the silent breathing of the deep sea. A simulated "enemy" vessel tracking exercise was quietly unfolding.
"Suspected location in an underwater cliff zone!" After receiving the navigator's report, cadet Li Yi, serving as the submarine's chief of machinery, fixed his gaze on his battle station's operating interface and data readouts, tensely performing trim calculations — but at a critical juncture, he overlooked a sudden change in the sea area's water density. When buoyancy dropped sharply and the hull began an uncontrolled rapid descent, the order "emergency surface" from the command compartment broke the silence of the training room, and the exercise was called to an end.
"As a commander, you were only watching your own screen. You paid no attention to the helmsman's operating process, and you gave no thought to the motion state of the entire vessel." At the after-action review, Professor Peng Likun cut straight to the point.
Watching Li Yi's failure, Peng Likun felt a complex mix of emotions. This veteran instructor, who had won teaching achievement awards on multiple occasions, keenly detected the cognitive limitations of the cadets: they were accustomed to fragmented operations in front of virtual screens and struggled to build a complete battlefield cognitive framework. This mindset of "seeing only the screen, not the battlefield" (只见屏幕不见战场) exposed the "last mile" that urgently needed to be bridged between teaching practice and battlefield demands.
The *Submarine Maneuvering* course that Peng Likun oversees has now traversed more than 60 years of history, sending batch after batch of outstanding backbone personnel to frontline submarine units, and bearing witness to the submarine force's leapfrog development from nothing to something, from weak to strong.
Over more than 60 years, the course's iterative upgrades have never ceased: the equipment taught has evolved from introduced and reverse-engineered submarines to domestically produced conventional submarines and nuclear-powered submarines; the textbooks used have evolved from self-compiled, mimeographed materials to quality textbooks publicly published by the National Defense Industry Press; the training equipment has been upgraded from a certain type of submarine maneuvering trainer to a new-generation simulation training system… Generation after generation of instructors have passed the torch and cultivated the field without pause, pouring countless efforts into this course and forging its solid reputation as a "gold course" (金课).
Yet the glory of that "gold course" weighed ever more heavily on Peng Likun's heart. Confronted with the tide of compound teaching reform emphasizing "integration of theory and practice, unification of command and technical skills, and integration of research and training" (理实融合、指技合一、研训一体), Peng Likun clearly recognized that resting on history's "book of merits" and accepting the status quo would only turn that glory into "shackles" constraining innovation. Determined to help cadets build a complete battlefield cognitive framework, Peng Likun resolved to launch a comprehensive reform of the course.
The first step in reform was to identify the problems. Peng Likun and the teaching and research team turned their problem-solving gaze toward the cadets below the lectern — those young people about to head to frontline units.
A faculty-student forum was promptly convened. "Four people share one simulator, each getting only 20 minutes of training time per session — just as you start to get a feel for it, it's over; there are far too few hands-on opportunities." "Lesson plan updates lag behind equipment iteration; new submarine maneuvering systems lack supporting practical modules"… At the forum, cadets spoke bluntly, "venting" their frustrations; every pain point struck precisely at a teaching shortcoming, and each became a core target for curriculum reform.
After this collision of ideas, a problem-oriented reshaping of instruction began: building a "trinity" (三位一体) teaching system that organically couples theoretical instruction, virtual simulation, and live-equipment operation; developing a multi-dimensional battlefield deduction system to temper cadets' decision-making ability in dynamic adversarial exercises; innovating a "battle station rotation + role exchange" model to ensure every cadet can experience the system-linkage effect from different battle stations…
"Curriculum development and reform are always on the road. We must dare to renovate and reshape courses that were once universally acclaimed." At a special teaching situation analysis conference, Peng Likun issued this call to his colleagues. This teaching transformation — still waters running deep — is injecting new combat-capability genes into the submarine force.
**Virtual-Real Integration — Completing the Leap from Single-Station Operation to Coordinated Training in a Simulated Environment**
*Naval University of Engineering cadets train using the simulation training system.*
Change was imperative; transformation was urgent. After the special teaching situation analysis conference, Peng Likun and the teaching and research team members immediately threw themselves into curriculum reform research with the courage to turn the blade inward.
Over several months, their footprints covered multiple submarine units. Limited shore and harbor training posts for submarine maneuvering, insufficient immersive experience replicating the atmosphere of an actual vessel, lagging digitalized, informatized, and intelligentized means… More than ten special symposiums, over a hundred candid recommendations, combined with in-depth discussions with military and civilian academies, gradually sketched a clear outline for reform. Between the classroom and the battlefield, what was missing was a bridge capable of converting theory into combat capability — a simulation apparatus that could authentically replicate the submarine's operating environment and system-linkage mechanisms.
With the direction set, the team buckled down to tackle the challenge, aiming squarely at "building an integrated platform for training and teaching." Before long, a new-generation submarine maneuvering simulation training system — "data-driven, virtual-real integrated" — was announced complete.
A 1:1 replica of the compartment layout and control console authentically reproduces the submarine's internal environment and operating procedures. Beyond that, the system also includes a portable vessel-operation research and training kit and a support-system virtual maneuvering research and training kit; their portability, customizability, and support for independent research and training allow crew members of various specializations to flexibly conduct specialized, customized, refined, and even immersive battle station research and training.
"Bow and stern ballast tanks flooded, ready to dive!" As training began, cadet Zhou Ming, responsible for the controls, fixed his gaze on the jumping parameters on the control panel, his fingertips moving deftly among rows of red and yellow buttons. Battle station orders rang out in succession; instructor Pan Wei moved among the control consoles with a laser pointer, periodically bending down to correct cadets' actions: "The sea valve must be fully opened"; "After flooding, immediately check longitudinal and transverse trim and compartment watertightness to prevent loss of control or flooding"…
"Pulling the control lever yourself — the feeling is immediately different." Cadet Zhou Ming reflected: "This course, which everyone calls a 'post rehearsal' (岗位预演), not only links together multiple specialized courses such as *Submarine Systems and Equipment* and *Electromechanical Equipment Maintenance*, but also allows us to complete the leap from single-station operation to coordinated training in a simulated environment, and thereby genuinely understand the training-and-teaching philosophy of 'a hundred people operating one weapon together' (百人同操一杆枪)."
Tested through practice and refined repeatedly, this course with its deep accumulated foundations successfully built a new paradigm for submarine maneuvering instruction: "virtual-real integrated, three-dimensional and multi-dimensional" (虚实融合、立体多元). After being showcased at relevant Navy conferences, the course model was successfully approved as a project and rapidly extended to multiple submarine units. According to unit feedback, after the course's teaching equipment was trialed by units, more than a thousand cadet training instances were completed, the adaptation period for newly graduated cadets joining vessels was significantly shortened, and battle station coordination efficiency improved markedly.
**Accelerating Conversion — The Results of Curriculum Innovation Are Extending to Frontline Battle Stations**
*Naval University of Engineering instructors (second from right) explain submarine structure to cadets.*
During a comprehensive exercise, Li Yi was on watch in the submarine's command compartment. The submarine was proceeding silently submerged, all systems running smoothly. Suddenly, he keenly detected a subtle abnormal fluctuation in the current parameters of the main propulsion system.
In the past, this minor deviation might have been overlooked. But at that moment, Li Yi's mind rapidly connected what he had learned in class — this could be a sign of propeller shaft bearing wear. He decisively picked up the communicator: "Engine room, please immediately check the status of the main propulsion bearing." The inspection confirmed his judgment.
"There is indeed slight wear — how did you spot it?" Hearing the instructor's question, Li Yi replied: "I identified a problem in the propulsion system from the current fluctuation, and a problem in the propulsion system affects the submarine's concealment, which in turn affects our tactical choices." A moment later, the instructor on the other end of the communicator silently gave a thumbs-up.
When the exercise ended, Li Yi stood in the center of the command compartment and looked around, moved by a sense of reflection: these screens and instruments were no longer merely independent operating interfaces, but the nerve endings of a vast system. Through them, he could sense the state of every corner of the submarine. And he was gradually learning how to become the commander of that whole.
The results of curriculum innovation are extending to frontline battle stations. In recent years, the average time for graduates of the university's submarine machinery command specialization to pass the "post qualification certificate" (岗位合格证) assessment has been substantially shortened; the most outstanding need only half a year to meet battle station requirements.
"Seamless connection" (无缝衔接) is the cadets' firsthand experience. Graduate cadet Yang Kai shared a deep impression during an exchange with his unit: "Standing in the position of chief of machinery, I can be familiar with the function of every valve without consulting a manual — because in the classroom at school, I had already 'touched' them thousands of times!"
The battlefield changes in an instant and tolerates not a moment's hesitation. Graduate cadet Wu Fan clearly remembers the heart-pounding experience of his first participation in a deployment exercise. That night, the submarine was suspected of being locked on by an "enemy" vessel's sonar in a certain sea area. The commanding officer immediately issued the order "emergency silence," requiring him to shut down all non-essential equipment within a specified time.
"My hands were shaking, but my body's instinctive reaction was faster than my thinking!" Thanks to the rigorous training of thousands of repetitions on the simulator, Wu Fan completed the operation with precise accuracy. He reflected: "The newly upgraded course allowed us to expose problems and correct errors in the classroom, bringing that invaluable experience to the battlefield."
As one of the military-wide "model courses," the reform and exploration of *Submarine Maneuvering* continues. The reporter observed in the teaching and research office that a brand-new upgrade plan has already taken initial shape: it plans to deeply embed advanced voice recognition and intelligent assessment modules into the simulation training system, using "technology empowerment" as a foundation to continuously deepen the course's development toward "combat orientation, higher-order thinking, and innovation" (向战性、高阶性、创新性), driving instruction toward an even higher level.
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**Firsthand Account | Calibrating the Direction of Teaching in the "Winds and Waves"**
■ Peng Likun
Years ago, an experience of lowering a rescue boat to carry out a mission left a deep impression on me. The moment the small craft cast off its lines, a surge of waves knocked it broadside. In just a few hundred meters, I truly understood the weight of the word "maneuvering" — the small boat cleaved through the waves; approaching a wave crest, you had to give rudder in advance, or the next second you would plunge into the trough; when the hull rolled too far, you had to use the throttle in coordination with the rudder angle, using power to counter the sea… Every second was anticipation; every moment was correction.
Years later, overseeing the *Submarine Maneuvering* course at the Naval University of Engineering, I gained a far deeper understanding of real-time anticipation and dynamic correction. Advancing into the deep blue, combat methods are changing, weapons and equipment are being updated. The old methods in the classroom are like an outdated nautical chart — they cannot keep up with the winds and waves of the new course. What cadets learn are procedural actions, yet they find it difficult to experience that real state of needing to sense in real time, judge rapidly, and adjust flexibly under complex, high-pressure conditions. How can the classroom truly connect with the "winds and waves" of the battlefield? Reform must be like maneuvering a vessel — constantly anticipating battlefield demands and continuously correcting the direction of teaching.
The key to reform is to teach cadets to adapt in a "dynamic battlefield." The team independently developed simulation training facilities, converting theoretical knowledge of vessel maneuvering into practical verification. Cadets can move directly from hearing theory to hands-on operation, experiencing, correcting errors, and adjusting in simulated "winds and waves." At the same time, we broke down the barriers between posts, integrating the various machinery specializations into a single "cockpit" — here, the slightest deviation in any cadet's operation spreads like ripples, affecting the state of the entire vessel; they must learn to sense in real time and correct in coordination.
Assessment standards also shifted toward combat realism. In the past, the main focus was on whether actions met the standard and whether time requirements were met. But the battlefield has no standard answers. The new standard has just one criterion: can the mission be accomplished? The entire training ground is like a dynamic "reactor," allowing cadets to forge the skill of anticipation and correction — from unfamiliar to second nature — under pressure and change that approximates actual combat.
Back then on the waves, it was anticipation and correction that steadied the small boat. Today, on the voyage of curriculum reform, the same capacity is needed — to constantly sense demands and continuously adjust methods. From strengthening dynamic hands-on operation, to integrating coordinated training, to focusing on mission-based assessment, each reform is a response to a "new surge of waves."
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**Sharp Perspective | Combat-Teaching Coupling Builds a Strategic Fulcrum for Strengthening the Military Through Talent Cultivation**
■ Xiong Feng
As the form of warfare accelerates its evolution, military academies, as the main front of talent cultivation, must take combat-teaching coupling (战教耦合) as a strategic fulcrum, build a cultivation system precisely aligned with the future battlefield, open up the combat-training chain, and ensure that academy education remains anchored to the target of combat capability.
**Anchor to the target of "combat."** The battlefield is the ultimate examination ground for talent. Academies must keep a close watch on future combat patterns and core post demands, converting battlefield standards into teaching standards and integrating combat requirements into the curriculum system. Teaching content and priorities must revolve around "teach what fighting requires, supplement what the force lacks," ensuring that talent cultivation resonates in sync with the battlefield.
**Innovate the means of "teaching."** The key to resolving the problem of disconnection between "teaching" and "combat" lies in advancing combat-realistic instruction. The "trinity" cultivation system must be improved; the proportion of combat case and tactics instruction must be increased; real scenarios must be brought into the classroom. Joint exercises and combat-realistic training must be strengthened; simulated battlefield environments must be constructed; laboratories and exercise grounds must be linked, and classrooms and battlefields must be interconnected, so that cadets can forge their capabilities through immersive instruction and convert what they have learned into combat capability.
**Deepen the integration of "action."** Military practice is the bond of combat-teaching coupling. It is necessary to persist in science and technology empowerment, integrating "technology+" into teaching and training; to rely on informatization and intelligentization to build practical platforms and promote the matching of personnel and equipment; to open up resource sharing between academies and units; to drive the conversion of laboratory theory into training ground practice; to bring exercise and training results back into the classroom, forming a virtuous cycle of "teaching supporting practice, practice feeding back into teaching," so that cadets grow, through the unity of knowledge and action (知行合一), into high-quality, specialized new-type military personnel capable of winning future conflicts.
*(Photography by Tian Yuxin, Sun Yuheng, and Cai Xiongjian)*