''Kwan Chia'' (), often called ''Guangjia'', was a 1,296-ton composite

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 ...

, often called a

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

, in service with the Imperial Chinese Guangdong Fleet. Total officers and crew were 180. The ship's maximum speed was .

Design

''Kwan Chia'' was built at the Foochow Navy Yard in 1887. Her hull was composite-built, with wooden planking over an iron frame. She displaced 1,296 tons and had a length of . She had a single screw that pushed her through the water at . By the time she was completed she was obsolete, but her armament was fairly modern, consisting of four 4.7-inch (120 mm) and one 5.9-inch (150 mm) Krupp breech-loading guns. Two of her 4.7-inch guns were on sponsons on either side of the ship near the bow, the other two were further aft on pivot mounts inboard, and the 5.9-inch gun was on the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

Naval service

She was built for the Guangdong Fleet, one of the Imperial Chinese Navy's four regional fleets. Nothing is known of her early career, but she along with several other ships of the Guangdong Fleet was present at the 1894 Battle of the Yalu River during the First Sino-Japanese War, on 17 September 1894. She made up a fighting pair with the Beiyang Fleet cruiser . She was probably destroyed by the Japanese fast cruiser squadron after ''Jiyuan'' withdrew with damage, or possibly she steamed back to Weihaiwei as soon as possible. The first fate is most likely, as one of the enemy cruisers was capable of to her 16 knots, and they had far more powerful guns.

References

* Chesneau, Roger and Eugene M. Kolesnik (editors), ''All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905'', Conway Maritime Press, 1979 reprinted 2002, * Wright, Richard N. J., ''The Chinese Steam Navy 1862-1945'', Chatham Publishing, London, 2000, Ships of the Beiyang Fleet First Sino-Japanese War naval ships of China Naval ships of China {{mil-ship-stub