Jingyuan (1887)
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.jpg) The Jingyuan |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | 1885 |
| Launch | January 3, 1887 |
| delivery | July 1887 |
| Whereabouts | Sunk September 17, 1894 in the Battle of Yalu |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
2,850 t , |
| length |
82.4 m over everything |
| width |
12.0 m |
| Draft |
5.1 m |
| crew |
240-270 men |
| drive |
4 cylinder boilers |
| speed |
16 kn |
| Range |
??? sm at? kn |
| Armament |
• 2 × 210 mm L / 35 Krupp cannons in double turret |
| Armor |
• Belt armor: 241 mm. |
| Sister ship |
Laiyuan ( Lai Yuen ) |
The Jingyuan ( Chinese 經 遠 / 经 远 ), formerly King Yuen or King Yuan , was a small armored cruiser that the Szczecin Vulcan built for the Beiyang fleet of the Chinese Navy. She sank in the battle of the Yalu .
In September 2018, a shipwreck found in the waters off the coast of northeast China's Liaoning Province was confirmed to be that of cruiser Jingyuan.
Building history
In 1880 the order for 12.5 million marks for the 7000 t tower ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan was placed by the Chinese government in Germany with AG Vulcan in Stettin, which had been courting the Chinese government since 1878 and was supported by the Krupp company. who delivered guns to China on a large scale. A third ship could not be ordered as a battleship because the Chinese Navy did not have sufficient funds. The Jiyuan was built much smaller as the first armored cruiser in Germany.
This major order from the new Chinese fleet was followed in 1885 by an order for two small armored cruisers or armored gunboats. At the same time, two protected cruisers were ordered from Armstrong , the Zhiyuan , also called Chih Yuen , and the Jingyuan , also called Ching Yuen , which is however pronounced and spelled differently in Chinese ( 靖遠 / 靖远 ).
The keel of the Jingyuan was laid in Stettin in 1885 and the ship was launched on January 3, 1887. In July 1887 the ship was taken over, transferred to Xiamen by November 1887 and finally added to the Beiyang fleet in spring 1888.
The Jingyuan / King Yuen displaced 2,850 t and reached a top speed of 16 knots. Their armament consisted of a bow tower with two 210 mm L / 35 Krupp guns, two 150 mm L / 35 Krupp cannons on the sides and four 457 mm Schwarzkopff torpedo tubes. In addition there were two 47-mm L / 43- and five 37 mm L / 20 - Hotchkiss -Schnellfeuer guns. The armor of the ships was not very extensive. The existing high proportion of wood and the installation of a representative teak deck proved to be very disadvantageous in the war effort.
Mission history
In the summer of 1889, the two new armored cruisers with Chinese school ships visited Vladivostok . In the spring of 1894 both sailed with the tower ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan as far as Singapore , but were ordered back to Weihaiwei because of tensions with Japan .
During the First Sino-Japanese War , the Jingyuan took part in the naval battle of the Yalu against the Imperial Japanese Navy on September 17, 1894, like her sister ship , where she was cut off from the rest of the fleet by the Japanese Flying Division with its armored cruisers due to their superior speed . The Takachiho and Yoshino shot the Jingyuan / King Yuen on fire, which eventually sank with almost all of its crew .
Sister ship Laiyuan
The sister ship Laiyuan ( 來 遠 / 来 远 , also Lai Yuen ), which was ordered at the same time, was launched a little later on March 25, 1887 and was mostly in service with the Jingyuan / King Yuen . In the sea battle on the Yalu on September 17, 1894, the Laiyuan was badly hit early and caught fire. She left the order of battle and escaped to Lüshunkou .
Repaired, it returned to the fleet in Weihaiwei and was sunk by the Chinese on February 9, 1895.
literature
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Eds.): All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, reprinted 2002, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- Chunxiao Jing: With barbarians against barbarians. LIT-Verlag, Berlin-Münster, 2002, ISBN 3-8258-6514-2 .
- Richard NJ Wright: The Chinese Steam Navy 1862-1945. Chatham Publishing, London, 2000, ISBN 1-86176-144-9 .
Web links
- Battle of the Yalu in Sinojapanesewar (engl.)
- Jingyuan in battleships-cruisers
- Battle of the Yalu in Russojapanesewar
- Battle of the Yalu with silhouettes and details of the ships involved
- Sunken Qing Dynasty warship identified