Chinese ironclad Zhenyuan

''Zhenyuan'' () was an ironclad battleship built for the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. She was the second and final member of the , which included one other vessel, , both of which were built in Germany in the early 1880s. Delivery of the two ironclads was delayed by the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. The ships were armed with a main battery of four guns in a pair of gun turrets, making them the most powerful warships in East Asian waters at the time.

In the 1880s and early 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet conducted a routine of training exercises and cruises abroad, with emphasis placed on visits to Japan to intimidate the country. The latter resulted in the Nagasaki Incident in 1886 and contributed to a rise in hostility between the two countries that culminated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. She saw action at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September, where the Japanese Combined Fleet sank much of the Beiyang Fleet, though both ''Zhenyuan'' and ''Dingyuan'' survived despite numerous hits. The survivors then retreated to Port Arthur for repairs, but after that city was threatened by the Japanese army, fled to Weihaiwei. While entering the port, ''Zhenyuan'' struck an uncharted rock and was badly damaged; she was used as a stationary artillery battery during the Battle of Weihaiwei in February 1895, but Japanese forces captured the city's fortifications, which forced the Chinese to surrender the fleet.

''Zhenyuan'' was seized as a war prize, repaired, and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as ''Chin Yen''. She frequently toured Japan in the late 1890s and early 1900s to celebrate Japan's victory over China. Obsolescent by the time of the Russo-Japanese War, she nevertheless saw action at the Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. She also supported the invasion of Sakhalin in July 1905. After the war, ''Chin Yen'' became a training ship, serving in that role until 1911, thereafter being sold to ship breakers in 1912.

Design

left, An overview of the layout of a ''Dingyuan''-class ironclad

Following the direct intervention of the imperialist European powers in the mid-19th century, including the First and Second Opium Wars, where their superior steam-powered fleets overwhelmed the small Imperial Chinese Navy that still relied on traditional junks, the Chinese began a naval construction program in the 1880s to meet these threats more effectively. They enlisted British and German assistance, and two s were ordered from Germany.

''Zhenyuan'' was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced normally and up to at full load. She was powered by a pair of compound steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight coal-fired fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a pair of funnels amidships. She was capable of a top speed of from . Her crew consisted of 350 officers and enlisted men.

The ship carried a main battery of four 20-caliber breech-loading guns in two twin-gun turrets that were placed en echelon forward. These were supported by a secondary battery of two guns in a pair of single turrets, one at the bow and the other at the stern. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried a pair of 3-pounder, Hotchkiss revolver cannon and eight Maxim-Nordenfelt quick-firing guns in casemates. She was also equipped with three or torpedo tubes.

She was protected by compound armor that was 14 in for the armor belt, which covered the central part of the ship were the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces were located. An armor deck that was thick provided horizontal protection. Her conning tower was covered with of armor plate on the sides. The barbettes for the gun turrets were 12–14 in thick. A strake of armor that was 8 in thick protected the casemate guns.

Modifications

Upon her acquisition by Japan in 1895, the ship was significantly modernized, including new fire-control directors for the main battery and more powerful secondary and tertiary batteries. The Japanese had initially considered replacing the main battery guns, but the project proved to be beyond the capabilities of Japanese shipyards at the time.

The old, slow-firing 5.9 in guns were replaced with quick-firing guns; the forward turret was retained, but the stern mount was replaced with an open mount with a gun shield. Two more of the guns were installed abreast of the main mast, both in the same shielded mount as the stern gun. The ''Dingyuan''-class ships suffered from trim problems as a result of their heavy main battery turrets being placed forward, which caused them to nose down and ship water; it also hampered their steering ability. The addition of the 6-inch guns further aft helped to counterbalance the weight of the main battery, significantly improving both defects. The light battery was revised to a pair of 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and eight of the Hotchkiss 3-pounders, all in individual mounts.

Displacement and other dimensions remained the same, but by that time, the propulsion system was only capable of producing for a speed of . Her crew was reduced significantly, despite the addition of the 6-inch guns, to 250 officers and enlisted men.

Service history

Chinese service

''Zhenyuan'' was ordered in 1881 and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany in March 1882; her name means "striking from afar" in Chinese. Work proceeded quickly and she was launched on 28 November 1882, though fitting-out work continued into early 1884. She was completed in April that year, but the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August prevented both ''Dingyuan''-class ships from being delivered until 1885. Both vessels were manned by German crews, sailing on 3 July 1885 under the German flag in company with the also German-built protected cruiser . The three ships arrived in Tianjin in November, where they were transferred to Chinese control. Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili and director of China's naval construction program, inspected the vessels following their arrival. The two ironclads were then commissioned into the Beiyang Fleet, which was based in Port Arthur. The ships steamed south to Shanghai for the winter of 1885–1886.

In the 1880s, the Beiyang Fleet was occupied with an annual routine of winter training cruises to the South China Sea, often in company with the Nanyang Fleet. This cruise typically involved visits to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces, and sometimes went as far south as stops in Southeast Asia. The rest of the year was spent in northern waters off Zhili, Shandong, and Fengtian provinces, conducting training exercises. Training cruises to foreign ports were conducted in the mid-1880s and early 1890s, both to train navigational skills on voyages far from shore and to show the flag