Jiyuan (1883)
.svg){kind=small}
|
|
|---|---|
 Jiyuan , conquered by the Japanese |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Shipyard | |
| Launch | November 2, 1883 |
| delivery | 1885 |
| Commissioning | October 29, 1885 |
| Whereabouts | sunk on November 30, 1904 off Port Arthur after being hit by a mine |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
2,440 ts |
| length |
75 m in the waterline |
| width |
10.5 m |
| Draft |
4.7 m |
| crew |
180 men |
| drive |
4 cylinder boilers |
| speed |
15 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Coal supply |
230 t |
| Armor |
|
The Jiyuan ( Chinese 濟 遠 / 济 远 , Pinyin Jìyuăn , W.-G. Chiyüan , Japanese reading Saien ) was a protected cruiser for the Imperial Northern Fleet built in Germany by AG Vulcan Stettin for China ; in older books it is also called Chiyuan , Tche-Yuen or Tsi-yuen . Due to a lack of budget funds, instead of a third tower ship of the Dingyuan type, only a much smaller protected cruiser was ordered.
The cruiser was involved in the opening battle of the Sino-Japanese War at Pungdo, was captured by the Japanese in Weihai and held by them as Saien until its sinking by a mine hit off Port Arthur on November 30, 1904 .
construction
The Jiyuan is said to have been the first protected cruiser built in Germany. Its performance was not satisfactory even at the time of completion. The representative of the British shipbuilding industry at the Chinese court, Sir Robert Hart , pointed out the considerably higher efficiency of cruisers built in Great Britain and achieved that the buyer and Chinese ambassador to Germany, Li Fengbao ( 李鳳 苞 / 李凤 苞 ), was recalled before the Jiyuan has been completed. The design was not unusual with its relatively large cannons on a relatively small hull. The experience of the Germans at that time was building the Wespe- class armored gunboats , which also became the basis for the Chinese ship. The Jiyuan was larger and more powerful than the gunboats, but it had inherited elements of a coastal defense ship. As a partner of the tower ships in a battle line, the ship was too weak and far too slow to work as a scout for them. The combination of the small tonnage with the strong, large-caliber weapons was well suited for coastal defense tasks.
The ship was 75 m long, a little over 10 m wide and had a steel hull well secured with watertight bulkheads, a ram post, a continuous deck with a small central structure with the bridge in front of a strong mast with an armed Mars position. Three masts were installed only for the transfer to China, so that it could also be sailed if necessary. In front of the bridge, two 210 mm Krupp guns were installed in a rotating barette . Behind the mast stood the single 150 mm gun, also from Krupp. The light cannons stood between these weapons on the sides, two light cannons were mounted on the mast in the Martian position. The four torpedo tubes from the Schwarzkopf company were built in a little above the waterline in the broadside at the level of the bridge and the rear cannon. The cruiser had a two-layer (composite) armored deck 75 mm thick. The Barbette and the lower part of the heavy gun emplacement had up to 250 mm of armor, but the upper part was only slightly protected with 50 mm, as was the protective shield for the 150 mm cannon when it was mounted.
The Jiyuan could run 15 knots with its 2,800 hp triple expansion steam engine and was therefore only slightly faster than the tower ships.
Mission history
The Jiyuan was originally due to be delivered in 1884. Due to the Sino-French War (1884–1885), completion was delayed according to international rules. From July 3, 1885, the Jiyuan was transferred together with the battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan from Kiel to China with German crews and under the German flag. For the transfer to China, the Jiyuan temporarily had two additional masts and rigging in order to be able to sail if necessary. On October 29, 1885, the ships arrived in China and formed the core of the Northern Fleet. Since the new base of the fleet in Weihawei was still under construction, the fleet was usually in Lüshunkou in summer and went to Shanghai in winter .
In 1886 the cruiser took part in the first major Chinese naval voyage abroad, visiting Kure , Nagasaki and Vladivostok . After that she was often used in station service in Korean ports. In 1889, after an overhaul in Hong Kong , the Jiyuan took part in a fleet trip to Singapore and Manila .
In the summer of 1894, Jiyuan secured transports of troops to Korea , which were supposed to suppress Japanese-inspired uprisings. Both China and Japan, called by different parts of the government, intervened with troops in Korea against the Donghak uprising . China tried to maintain its sovereignty over Korea, while Japan wanted to make Korea its own colony. The Chinese troops were stationed in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do Province , Korea, south of Seoul . The 3,000 men there were supplied by sea. The Japanese planned to block the entrance to Asan Bay while their land forces were to lock in the Chinese forces at Asan before more troops arrived by sea. Some in command of the Chinese Northern Fleet were aware of the dangerous situation and had either pleaded for a withdrawal of the troops north to Pyongyang , such as the commander of the Jiyuan , Fang Boqian . Others advised the entire fleet to advance to Incheon to deter the Japanese. The Qing government was undecided; the commander-in-chief of the north, Li Hongzhang , did not want to risk his fleet and the emperor Guangxu , represented by the regent Cixi , demanded a stiff defensive stance. As a compromise, the reinforcement of the army division in Asan should initially take place under the protection of ships that were already in Korea.
On the morning of June 25, 1894, the Jiyuan was suddenly attacked by three more powerful Japanese cruisers in Asan Bay, resulting in the first engagement of the following Sino-Japanese War , also known as the Battle of Pungdo.
Battle of Pungdo
According to the Japanese representation, the three Japanese cruisers Yoshino , Naniwa and Akitsushima met the Chinese cruiser Jiyuan and the gunboat Guangyi ( 廣 乙 / 广 乙 , Guǎngyǐ , also in the Yellow Sea off Asan, in the province of Chungcheongnam-do, at 7:00 a.m. Kwang-yi ). Both ships came from Asan to meet another Chinese gunboat, the Caojiang ( 操 江 , also: Tsao-kiang ), to accompany the transporter to Asan. The departing Chinese ships are said not to have returned the Japanese salute. When the Japanese turned to the southwest, the Chinese allegedly opened fire.
According to the Chinese representation, the three Japanese cruisers opened fire in Korean waters at 7.45 a.m. near the island of Pundo in one of the two possible exits from Asan Bay on the two Chinese ships that had arrived in Asan two days earlier and that were the Fire returned from 7:52 a.m. After about an hour, the Jiyuan broke off the action and fled. The gunboat Guangyi ran aground on some rocks and its magazine exploded. At that moment the gunboat Caojiang , 572 t, and the transporter Gaosheng ( 高陞 / 高升 , also: Kow-shing ), sailing under the British merchant flag and carrying around 1,200 soldiers and supplies on board, arrived. The Caojiang was captured by the Japanese and the Gaosheng ordered to follow the Naniwa . The Chinese soldiers were not ready and threatened the British occupation. After four hours of negotiations, the British crew jumped overboard at an opportune moment to swim to the Naniwa . The Chinese shot the swimmers. Only the captain and two sailors could be saved. Then the Naniwa opened fire on the Gaosheng and sank them with the soldiers. Few were able to swim to the coast, including the German military adviser Major von Hanneken. The surviving chief officer of the Gaosheng stated in an interview with The Times of London on October 25, 1894, among other things, that the Naniwa had sunk two lifeboats full of soldiers. Of the 43 Gaosheng crew , only three survived. The Chinese mourned about 1,100 deaths, including over 800 from the Gaosheng . The Japanese had no losses.
The Jiyuan finally reached the Weihaiwei base. The 210 mm barbette is said to have failed due to a direct hit during the battle. 16 men were killed and 25 wounded on board. Captain Fang is said to have been sentenced to death but kept his command on parole.
The battle had a major impact on the land war. The Chinese troops received no reinforcements or the ammunition carried by the Caojiang . Inferior and isolated, they were attacked by Japanese land troops four days later and were defeated in the Battle of Seonghwan . Then the formal declaration of war followed.
The sinking of the Gaosheng by the Naniwa under the command of the later admiral Tōgō Heihachirō led to diplomatic tensions between Japan and Great Britain until British lawyers assessed them as compliant with international law , since mutineers had been fought here. For the Chinese government, it was one of the "insidious acts" of the Japanese cited as reasons for declaring war.
Sea battle at Yalu
In the sea battle at Yalu on September 17, 1894 on the border between China and Korea , the Japanese navy tried to prevent the support and supply of the Chinese army in Korea, which was protected by the Chinese fleet. The main squadron of the Chinese initially ran in keel line with the Jiyuan in the lead in the battle with the Japanese. They achieved no success in the battle, but rammed the Chinese cruiser Yangwei in a turning maneuver, which was finally sunk by Japanese ships.
Loss of the northern fleet in Weihai / service in the Japanese fleet
After the lost battle at Yalu, the Northern Fleet withdrew first to Port Arthur and then to their base on Liugong Island near Weihaiwei. Since the commander of the Jiyuan , Fang Boqian, left the battlefield again on his own, he is said to have been executed in Port Arthur. In early 1895, the Japanese enclosed the Chinese fleet by sea and land. When the Weihaiwei base surrendered on February 17, 1895, the Jiyuan fell into the hands of the Japanese, who put her back into service on March 16, 1895 as a 2nd class cruiser under the name Saien - the Japanese reading of the original name .
The Saien was one of the warships that supported the Japanese occupation of Taiwan . On October 13, 1895 she took part in the bombardment of the coastal fortifications at Kaohsiung . The Saien was part of the blockade forces in front of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. On November 11, 1904, she was reclassified as a 3rd class coastal defense ship, but sank on November 30, 1904 after a mine hit directly off Port Arthur to 38 ° 51 ' N , 121 ° 5' E, .
literature
- Richard NJ Wright: The Chinese Steam Navy 1862-1945. Chatham Publishing, London, 2000, ISBN 1-86176-144-9 .
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik (Eds.): All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 , Conway Maritime Press, 2002, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- David Evans: Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. US Naval Institute Press, 1979, ISBN 0-87021-192-7 .
- Stephen Howarth: The Fighting Ships of the Rising Sun: The Drama of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1895-1945. Atheneum, 1983, ISBN 0-689-11402-8 .
- Hansgeorg Jentsura: Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Naval Institute Press, 1976, ISBN 0-87021-893-X .
- J. Charles Schencking: Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922. Stanford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8047-4977-9 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Wright, p. 66.
- ^ Wright, p. 81
- ↑ Akitsushima , 1892, 3100 t, 19kn, 4-152mm, 6-120mm guns
- ↑ Location of Pundo
- ↑ Several articles on the fall of the Gaosheng in The Times between August 2 and October 25, 1894.
- ^ Herbert Wrigley Wilson: Ironclads in Action; a Sketch of Naval Warfare from 1855 to 1895. S. Low, London 1896, p. 71.
