from "mosquito boats" to ironclad ships, the beiyang navy's ships gradually became more powerful
2024-09-17
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the mosquito boat was first developed by the british armstrong company. although it looks like a boat, it is actually a platform for mounting cannons, so it was originally called a "water gun platform". it is small in size and weighs only about 400 tons, but it is not pleasant to be "bitten" by it. the front-loading cannon at the bow has powerful firepower and can even penetrate armor.
from 1875 to 1881, the late government successively purchased 15 mosquito boats. during the sino-japanese war of 1894-1895, they were mainly responsible for protecting important ports such as weihaiwei and lushun. later, they were captured, resold, or scrapped one after another after the defeat.
cruisers are the main type of ships in the beiyang navy. they were mainly purchased from britain and germany and have their own design characteristics. for example, chaoyong and yangwei were ordered the earliest and have relatively small displacement of only more than 1,300 tons. their outstanding feature is that the bow part has a ram design, which can defeat the enemy through ramming.
in comparison, the displacement of zhiyuan, jingyuan and jiyuan reached more than 2,300 tons, and they highlighted the design of dome armor and had a stronger hull. the displacement of jingyuan and laiyuan reached more than 2,900 tons, greatly enhancing the ship's protection capabilities.
in addition, among the beiyang "eight great yuan" ships, there was also a pingyuan coastal defense ironclad ship, which was independently designed and built by the fuzhou shipyard in 1886. as the first domestically-produced warship, it can be regarded as the pinnacle of china's shipbuilding industry in the late 19th century.
ironclad ships were the most powerful warships in the beiyang navy. there were two ships, dingyuan and zhenyuan, both designed and built by the german vulcan shipyard. whether it was a displacement of more than 7,200 tons or a steel armor with a thickness of more than 30 centimeters, it was an existence that could not be ignored in the world at that time.
the two ships are also equipped with four custom-made 305mm large-caliber krupp guns with an effective range of up to 7,800 meters, which can be said to be "advantageous in both offense and defense."
in december 1888, the beiyang navy charter was approved and promulgated, marking the official formation of the beiyang navy. this young naval fleet assembled more than 4,000 elite soldiers and 25 warships. its size and strength, according to the ranking of the u.s. naval yearbook that year, ranked first in asia and ninth in the world.
editor: zhai jing
editor: jin mei
