Chinese gunboat Tsao-kiang

IJN gunboat Soko in 1897
Career (China)
Name:	Tsao Kiang
Builder:	Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai
Launched:	1869
Fate:	Captured by Japan 27 July 1894
Career (Japan)
Name:	Soko
Acquired:	27 July 1894
Struck:	1902
Fate:	Scrapped 1904
General characteristics
Displacement:	600 long tons (610 t)
Length:	47,75 m
Beam:	8,61 m
Draught:	3,25 m
Speed:	9 kts
Complement:	79
Armament:	4x160 mm original, 2x3in Armstrong after 1898

Tsao Kiang (Chinese: 操江; pinyin: Cāojiāng) was a 640-ton wooden^[1] (according to other sources: 600-ton composite-hulled^[2]) gunboat, launched in 1869^{[note 1]} by Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai, for the Nanyang Fleet. Acquired in 1872 for Zhili by Li Hongzhang it served with Beiyang Fleet as a governor's yacht^[1]. It was captured by the Japanese cruiser Akitsushima on 25 July 1894 during the Battle of Pungdo and was renamed Soko; stricken in 1902, it was broken up in 1904^[3].

Notes

1. ^ Conway's gives 1976 as a launching date, however this contradicts the ship's service as described by R.N. Wright's book, which is more specialised source.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Wright (2001). The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862-1945. London: Chatham Publishing. pp. 34. ISBN 1-86176-144-9. 
2. ^ Chesneau; Kolesnik (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 397. ISBN 0-85177-133-5. 
3. ^ Jentsura; Jung; Mickel (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Naval Institute Press. pp. 116. ISBN 087021893X.