Rare old photos of the China-Vietnam Paracel Sea Battle are indeed hard to come by.

In the heroic naval battle in which Chinese military and civilians vowed to defend the Xisha Islands to the death, the Chinese Navy, despite its disadvantage in equipment, succeeded in sinking one escort ship of the South Vietnam Navy, damaging 3 destroyers, and killing or wounding more than 100 officers and soldiers of the enemy, including the captain of the "Nu Tao" ship.