Beiyang Fleet

The Beiyang Fleet ( and "Zhenyuan", three modern warships then building in German shipyards. In December 1883, as war with China seemed increasingly likely, the French persuaded the German government to delay the release of these three ships. They did not reach China until the autumn of 1885, after the end of the Sino-French War. [Lung Chang, "Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng", 180–3 and 184–94]

In late June 1884, when the news of the Bac Le Ambush broke, the French admiral Sébastien Lespès, commander of the Far East naval division, was cruising off Che-foo in the Gulf of Petchili with the French warships "La Galissonnière", "Triomphante", "Volta" and "Lutin", while the Beiyang Fleet lay at anchor in Che-foo harbour. Although war was clearly imminent, France and China remained technically at peace, and Lespès was forbidden to attack the Beiyang Fleet pending the outcome of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. On 3 July 1884 the Beiyang Fleet's commander, Admiral Ding Ruchang (丁汝昌), withdrew his ships from Che-foo to Pei-ho, where a strong bar across the harbour protected them from the French ships. The fleet remained at Pei-ho in almost complete idleness throughout the Sino-French War. [Loir, "L’escadre de l’amiral Courbet", 26–9 and 37–65]

In February 1885 the Beiyang Fleet reluctantly released two of its ships, , were completed in 1887 in the Vulcan yard at Stettin. Another pair of protected cruisers, "Chingyuan" and "Zhiyuan", were built by Armstrong in 1887 at its new Elswick yard. These foreign-built ships were joined in 1889 by the armoured cruiser "Pingyuan", a product of the Foochow Navy Yard originally named "Longwei" ("Lung-wei", 龍威).

The Beiyang Fleet also included six steel unarmoured British-built gunboats, delivered in 1879. These gunboats, of identical specifications, were named respectively "Zhenbei" ('Guard the north'), "Zhendong" ('Guard the east'), "Zhennan" ('Guard the south'), "Zhenxi" ('Guard the west'), "Zhenbian" ('Guard the frontier') and "Zhenzhong" ('Guard the interior'). The first four ships were originally to have been allocated to the Nanyang Fleet, but Li Hongzhang was so impressed with their quality that he took them over for the Beiyang Fleet, compensating the Nanyang Fleet with four elderly gunboats that had served with the Beiyang Fleet since 1876.

The Beiyang Fleet also possessed an array of small torpedo boats. Exact numbers are uncertain, because these craft were not systematically listed, but some details are known. Four 16-ton torpedo boats were built in 1883 at the Vulcan yard in Stettin for the use of the steel battleships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan". These four craft, known respectively as "Dingyuan" No. 1 and No. 2 and "Zhenyuan" No. 1 and No. 2, were delayed in harbour by the Germans during the Sino-French War along with their mother ships, and joined the Beiyang Fleet in October 1885. [Wright, "The Chinese Steam Navy", 179 and 182]

"(a) Battleships"

"(d) Torpedo boats"

Torpedo Boats
*Left Fleet 1 "左隊一號"
*Left Fleet 2 "左隊二號"
*Left Fleet 3 "左隊三號"
*Right Fleet 1 "右隊一號"
*Right Fleet 2 "右隊二號"
*Right Fleet 3 "右隊三號"
*"Fulong" "福龍"
*"捷順"

Training Ships
*"Kangji" "康濟"
*"Weiyuan" *"威遠"
*"敏捷"

Auxiliary Ships
*"泰安"
*"Zhenhai" "鎮海"
*"Caojiang" "操江"
*"湄云"

Transport
*"Liyun" "利運"

First Sino-Japanese War

Claiming her responsibilities on Choson affairs, in 1894, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the First Sino-Japanese War against China. Due to the lack of government funding and the intensive Japanese naval program, Beiyang's once superior resources were becoming outdated. By the time of the Battle of Yalu River (1894), the Beiyang Fleet suffered heavy losses due to the surprise attack of the Japanese and the inferiority of its equipment, and was eventually annihilated in the Battle of Weihaiwei.

Minor attempts to rebuild the fleet were made after the war, but the Beiyang Navy was never to reattain its former significance.

hips of the Beiyang Fleet

Notes

References

* Arlington, L. C., "Through the Dragon's Eyes" (London, 1931)
* Loir, Maurice, "L'escadre de l'amiral Courbet" (Paris, 1886)
* Lung Chang [龍章] , "Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng" [越南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War] (Taipei, 1993
* Rawlinson, John, "China's Struggle for Naval Development, 1839–1895" (Harvard, 1967)
* Wright, Richard, "The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862–1945" (London, 2001)

See also

*Beiyang Army
*Self-Strengthening Movement
*Nanyang Fleet
*Guangdong Fleet
*Fujian Fleet

External links

* [http://www.hksw.org/Ting%20Yuen.htm Travel Guide on the Ting Yuen]
* [http://www.beiyang.org Beiyang.org]
* [http://vm.rdb.nthu.edu.tw/cwm/chin/chin_4.html Beiyang Navy]