Chinese ironclad Pingyuan

Type

Ironclad

Period

19th Century

Nation

China

Overview: Pingyuan was a coastal defence ironclad built for the Imperial Chinese Beiyang Fleet, notable as the first ironclad warship constructed in a Chinese shipyard, although some components were imported from abroad. She was launched in 1888 under the name Longwei and later became known by transliterations such as Ping Yuen or Ping-yüan. Specifications: Built at the Foochow Arsenal in Mawei near Fuzhou, she displaced about 2,150 long tons, measured roughly 61 m in length with a 12.2 m beam and 4.2 m draft, and made about 10.5 knots on triple-expansion engines. Her design was modelled on the French Acheron-class armoured gunboats. She was armed with a single 260 mm (263 mm Krupp) main gun, two 150 mm secondary guns, an assortment of light machine guns, and torpedo tubes, protected by an armored belt up to 203 mm thick. Service History: As part of the Beiyang Fleet, Pingyuan fought at the Battle of the Yalu River during the First Sino-Japanese War, where she damaged the Japanese flagship Matsushima, and was later captured by Japan during the siege of Weihaiwei on 17 February 1895. Taken into the Imperial Japanese Navy, she served first as Ping Yuen Go and was renamed Heien in 1900, later being reclassified as a first-class gunboat. She was lost after striking a mine off Pigeon Bay near Port Arthur on 18 September 1904 while serving in the blockade during the Russo-Japanese War. Notable Facts: Some sources describe her as an armored cruiser or coastal battleship rather than a strict ironclad, reflecting the fluid classification of coastal defence ships of this era. Her capture and re-use by Japan under a new name mirrors the fate of several other Beiyang Fleet vessels seized after the war, such as Zhenyuan and Jiyuan.