Chinese cruiser Zhiyuan

Type

Protected Cruiser

Period

19th Century

Nation

China

Overview: Zhiyuan (致遠, Chih Yuen) was a protected cruiser built for the Imperial Chinese Navy's Beiyang Fleet by Armstrong Whitworth at Elswick, England, part of Li Hongzhang's post-Sino-French War naval modernization effort. She was one of two Zhiyuan-class cruisers alongside sister ship Jingyuan, and is remembered chiefly for her loss at the Battle of the Yalu River. Specifications: Zhiyuan displaced 2,300 long tons, with a length of 268 ft (82 m), beam of 38 ft (12 m), and draft of 15 ft (4.6 m); a compound-expansion steam engine with four boilers driving two screws gave her a top speed of about 18.5 knots. Her main armament comprised three 8-inch Krupp breech-loaders (two paired forward on a hydraulically powered rotating platform, one aft on a manually trained mount), backed by two 6-inch Armstrong guns, numerous Hotchkiss quick-firers, six gatling guns, and four above-water torpedo tubes. Deck armor ran 3-4 inches with 2-inch gun shields; compared to later Elswick cruisers she carried fewer but larger guns, reflecting a design era before medium-caliber quick-firing guns made volume of fire paramount. Service History: Launched 29 September 1886 and completed 23 July 1887, Zhiyuan sailed to China in 1887 and joined the Beiyang Fleet in 1888 under Captain Deng Shichang. In summer 1889 she took part in a flotilla visit under Admiral Ding Ruchang to Chefoo, Chemulpo, and the Russian naval base at Vladivostok. Her only action came at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, where she aggressively engaged the Japanese auxiliary cruiser Saikyo Maru before being encircled by Admiral Tsuboi Kozo's flying squadron (Yoshino, Takachiho, Akitsushima, and Naniwa); holed and listing, she attempted to ram an enemy ship before a shell hit detonated one of her torpedo tubes and she sank around 3:30 pm. Notable Facts: The sinking claimed roughly 245 of her 252 crew, including Captain Deng Shichang, who according to Chinese accounts refused rescue and drowned alongside his pet dog rather than abandon his ship; he was later honored as a national hero. A wreck code-named "Dandong No. 1" was discovered in the Yellow Sea in 2013 after a long search and has been tentatively identified as Zhiyuan, with cannons, shells, and other artifacts recovered in subsequent surveys; a full-scale replica of the ship was also built at Dandong in 2014.