''Yuyuen'' () was a wooden

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

powered

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

built for the

Imperial Chinese Navy The Imperial Chinese Navy was the modern navy of the Qing dynasty of China established in 1875. An Imperial naval force in China first came into existence from 1132 during the Song dynasty and existed in some form until the end of the Qing dynasty ...

. She was one of two ships of the , which consisted of her and her

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

. They were the largest vessels built in China until the 1930s; they each ran over budget and used sub-standard building materials which limited their use. She was active in the defence of

Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

during the

Sino-French War The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...

, and formed part of a squadron which was sent to relieve the

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

. ''Yuyuen'' was sunk in Shipu Bay during the Battle of Shipu on 15 February 1885.

Design

''Yuyuen'' was a wooden

powered

. She was constructed at the dockyard at the

Kiangnan Arsenal Jiangnan Shipyard () is a historic shipyard in Shanghai, China. The shipyard has been state-owned since its founding in 1865 and is now operated as Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co. Ltd. Before 2009, the company was south of central Shanghai at ...

for the

Nanyang Fleet The Nanyang Fleet () was one of the four modernised Chinese naval fleets in the late Qing Dynasty. Established in the 1870s, the fleet suffered losses in the Sino-French War, escaped intact in the Sino-Japanese War, and was formally abolished i ...

. ''Yuyuen'' and her sister ship were the largest vessels built in China until the

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

in 1931. ''Yuyuen'' displaced and measured

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and an average

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . The propulsion system consisted of a

reciprocating engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

with a single shaft, enabling a cruising speed of . She was also equipped with a

sailing rig Sailing rigs describe the arrangement of sailing vessels' rig components, including their spars, rigging, and sails. Examples include a schooner rig, cutter rig, junk rig, etc. Rigs may be broadly categorized as Fore-and-aft rig, fore-and-aft and ...

across her three masts. She had a crew complement of 372. Her armament initially consisted of two

muzzle-loading rifle A muzzle-loading rifle is a muzzle-loaded small arm or artillery piece that has a rifled barrel rather than a smoothbore. The term " rifled muzzle loader" typically is used to describe a type of artillery piece, although it is technically accurate ...

s (MLRs) mounted on the upper deck and 24 70-pounder Whitworth naval guns, the latter mounted in

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

s. During a later overhaul these were subsequently replaced with

Krupp gun The Krupp gun is a family of artillery pieces that was used by several world armies from the nineteenth century onwards. History In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded his cast-steel factory ''Gusstahlfabrik'', but it was his son, Alfred Krupp, who att ...

s of varying sizes, with two guns placed on the upper deck, and the broadside replaced with four and 20 guns. ''Yuyuen'' was built at a cost of 318,717

taels Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in the construction of the vessels meant that the timbers were showing obvious signs of rot after a few months of use.

Career

''Yuyuen'' was launched on 23 December 1873 from the Kiagnan Arsenal, 19 months after her sister ship. ''Yuyuen'' was not initially manned after launch to recoup some of the overspend on construction costs. She was instead used as a storeship and

guard ship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usual ...

in the

Wusong District Wusong, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a subdistrict of Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the Huangpu River from Shanghai's urban core. Name Wusong is named for the W ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. Following the attack by the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

at the

Battle of Foochow The Battle of Fuzhou, or Battle of Foochow, also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage (French: Combat naval de Fou-Tchéou, Chinese: , 馬江之役 or 馬尾海戰, literally Battle of Mawei), was the opening engagement of the 16-month ...

during the

in 1884, she formed part of a squadron whose objective was to hunt down French vessels following an anticipated attack on

. Despite being out of date by that point, she was put "into fighting trim". The other vessels in the squadron consisted of the cruisers , and . But instead of attacking Nanking, the French forces targeted

instead. The Nanking squadron was sent to break a

of the island by the French Navy, being joined by the

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

. The fleet was under the command of Admiral Wu Ang-k'ang, while ''Yuyuen'' was commanded by Captain Chin Yung-chai; of the commanding officers, only the captain of ''Teng Ch'ing'' had experience with any sea training.

Battle of Shipu

The ships left Shanghai in December 1884, making slow progress south as the crew were trained en route. They reached Wenchow (now

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

) in January 1885, and began to return north briefly. They made contact with the French navy as they left Shipu Bay on 14 February. The Chinese ships moved to attack in a V-shaped formation, with the slower ''Yuyuen'' bringing up the rear. The French fleet saw the distance gathering between ''Yuyuen'' and the rest of the Chinese ships and sought to exploit this by moving in-between. ''Yuyuen'' soon lost sight of the Chinese cruisers in the poor weather, and Admiral Wu on ''Teng Ch'ing'' realised that his vessel could not keep up either. The two ships moved back into Shipu Bay, the favourable currents allowing them to stay ahead of the French ships. The duo were blockaded in by the French ships, who could not enter the bay due to their deeper drafts. During the following night, two attempts were made to sink the ships using French steam powered cutters. An initial attack at around 10:00 pm on 14 February was repulsed by fire from the Chinese ships, but a second attempt at 4:00 am on 15 February by cutters from the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

were successful after lying hidden among the various fishing vessels of various sizes within the bay. The cutters closed so near to ''Yuyuen'' that the chief engineer was able to reach over the side and hit a French sailor with his gun sponge. Small arms fire was exchanged between the crew. Of the three cutters, one successfully detonated a

spar torpedo A spar torpedo is a weapon consisting of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at ...

under ''Yuyuen'', destroying the cutter in the process. ''Teng Ch'ing'' was also sunk, but the French forces claimed that it was not as a result of their attack. American adviser L. C. Arlington was stationed on ''Yuyuen'' at the time, and later reported the chaotic scene as the ship was attacked. Some of the crew jumped over the side, while others tried to lower boats. At no point had there been any attempt by the Chinese to fend off the French cutters, with the shore batteries only firing after the attack on ''Yuyuen''. One of the shells fired by the batteries hit ''Teng Ch'ing'', potentially causing her sinking. The two cutters retreated, relatively undamaged. This was the final time during the war that Chinese vessels were sunk, and ''Yuyuen'' was the largest vessel sunk during the conflict. Crew from the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Fubleo'' arrived at Shipu on 18 February, and later gave a report to the ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

''. ''Yuyuen''s hull had sunk below the water and was sitting upright with her sails still flying. Local villagers had already begun looting the vessel, having cut away topsail from the mizzen-mast and were in the process of removing the

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

and retrieving one of the ship's hatches. When the ''Fubleo'' crew arrived in the village, they found the surviving crew of ''Yuyuen'' and ''Ten Ch'ing''. They reported that the villages had attempted to prevent them from coming ashore, but they had been convinced through force of arms. The family of Captain Chin were subsequently arrested, with Chinese authorities demanding that the ships were not sunk under fire from the French, but instead by having holes drilled in the bottom of the hulls so that the crew could have an excuse for abandoning the ships. Unsuccessful attempts were later made to raise the ''Yuyuen''.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yuyuen 1873 ships Naval ships of China Ships built in China Sino-French War naval ships Naval ships of Imperial China Steam frigates Shipwrecks of China Maritime incidents in February 1885