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Dingyuan-class ironclad
The Dingyuan class (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan) consisted of a pair of ironclad warships—Dingyuan and Zhenyuan—built for the Imperial Chinese Navy in the 1880s. They were the first ships of that size to be built for the Chinese Navy, having been constructed by Stettiner Vulcan AG in Germany. Originally expected to be a class of 12 ships, before being reduced to three and then two, with Jiyuan having been reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser.
Completed in early 1883 and 1884, respectively, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were prevented from sailing to China during the Sino-French War, but first saw combat at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, during the First Sino-Japanese War. They were next in combat during the Battle of Weihaiwei in early 1895, where they were blockaded in the harbour. Dingyuen was struck by a torpedo, and was beached where it continued to operate as a defensive fort. When the fleet was surrendered to the Japanese, she was destroyed while Zhenyuan became the first battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy as Chin Yen. She was eventually removed from the Navy list in 1911, and was sold for scrap the following year.
Naval conflicts with Western powers earlier in the 19th century such as the First and Second Opium Wars, during which European warships decisively defeated China's traditional junk fleets, prompted a major rearmament program that began in the 1880s under the Viceroy of Zhili province, Li Hongzhang. Advisers from the British Royal Navy assisted the program, and the first group of ships—several ironclad gunboats and two small cruisers—were bought from British shipyards. Following a dispute with Japan over the island of Formosa, the Chinese Navy decided to buy large ironclad battleships to match the Imperial Japanese Navy ironclads of the Fusō and Kongō classes then under construction. Britain was unwilling to sell China warships of this size for fear of offending the Russian Empire, despite having sold Japan similar vessels, so Li turned to German shipyards.
The German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) was completing the four Sachsen-class ironclads, and offered to sell China ships built to a modified design. Li wanted to buy up to 12 large ironclads, but tight finances prevented an order of three ships, of which the Jiyuan was reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser. Rather than mounting the main guns in a pair of large, open barbettes as in the Sachsen class, the new design placed four guns in two rotating barbettes towards the front of each ship. The two ships of the class, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, were built at a cost of around 6.2 million German gold marks, the equivalent of around 1 million Chinese silver taels.
The ships of the Dingyuan class were 308 feet (94 m) long between perpendiculars and 298.5 ft (91.0 m) long overall. They had a beam of 60 ft (18 m) and a draught of 20 ft (6.1 m). The ships displaced 7,144 long tons (7,259 t) as designed and up to 7,670 long tons (7,793 t) at full load. The ships' hulls were constructed out of steel, and were built with a naval ram in the bow. Steering was controlled by a single rudder. Each vessel had a crew of 363 officers and enlisted men. Two heavy military masts were fitted, one just in front of the main battery guns and one behind. A hurricane deck covered the turrets and ran from the foremast to the funnels. Each ship carried a pair of second-class torpedo boats astern of the funnels, along with derricks to unload them.
Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were powered by a pair of horizontal, three-cylinder trunk steam engines, each of which drove a single screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight cylindrical boilers that were ducted into a pair of funnels amidships. The boilers were divided into four boiler rooms. The engines were rated at 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) for a top speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph), though both ships exceeded these figures on trials, with Zhenyuan, the faster of the two, reaching 7,200 ihp (5,400 kW) and 15.4 kn (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph). The ships carried 700 long tons (711 t) of coal normally and up to 1,000 long tons (1,016 t); this enabled a cruising radius of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). Both ships were fitted with sails for the voyage from Germany to China, though they were later removed.
The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns, mounted in two barbettes. The barbettes are sometimes reported to have been in different arrangements on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but both ships' guns were arranged identically, with the starboard barbette forward of the port one. The placement of the guns caused trim problems that led the ships to be wet forward.
There was quite some confusion about the exact model of the Dingyuan class' 12 inch Krupp guns. This seems trivial, but in fact, there was a huge difference between these models. An early extensive report about the ships stated that the 30.5 cm guns were 35 calibers long. If this were true, they would have been 10.7 m long 30.5 cm MRK L/35 guns. However, the drawings that accompanied the report showed a much shorter 30.5 cm gun. The confusion might have been caused by the Dingyuan class also using the 15 cm L/35, which was also exceptionally long.
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Dingyuan-class ironclad
The Dingyuan class (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan) consisted of a pair of ironclad warships—Dingyuan and Zhenyuan—built for the Imperial Chinese Navy in the 1880s. They were the first ships of that size to be built for the Chinese Navy, having been constructed by Stettiner Vulcan AG in Germany. Originally expected to be a class of 12 ships, before being reduced to three and then two, with Jiyuan having been reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser.
Completed in early 1883 and 1884, respectively, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were prevented from sailing to China during the Sino-French War, but first saw combat at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, during the First Sino-Japanese War. They were next in combat during the Battle of Weihaiwei in early 1895, where they were blockaded in the harbour. Dingyuen was struck by a torpedo, and was beached where it continued to operate as a defensive fort. When the fleet was surrendered to the Japanese, she was destroyed while Zhenyuan became the first battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy as Chin Yen. She was eventually removed from the Navy list in 1911, and was sold for scrap the following year.
Naval conflicts with Western powers earlier in the 19th century such as the First and Second Opium Wars, during which European warships decisively defeated China's traditional junk fleets, prompted a major rearmament program that began in the 1880s under the Viceroy of Zhili province, Li Hongzhang. Advisers from the British Royal Navy assisted the program, and the first group of ships—several ironclad gunboats and two small cruisers—were bought from British shipyards. Following a dispute with Japan over the island of Formosa, the Chinese Navy decided to buy large ironclad battleships to match the Imperial Japanese Navy ironclads of the Fusō and Kongō classes then under construction. Britain was unwilling to sell China warships of this size for fear of offending the Russian Empire, despite having sold Japan similar vessels, so Li turned to German shipyards.
The German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) was completing the four Sachsen-class ironclads, and offered to sell China ships built to a modified design. Li wanted to buy up to 12 large ironclads, but tight finances prevented an order of three ships, of which the Jiyuan was reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser. Rather than mounting the main guns in a pair of large, open barbettes as in the Sachsen class, the new design placed four guns in two rotating barbettes towards the front of each ship. The two ships of the class, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, were built at a cost of around 6.2 million German gold marks, the equivalent of around 1 million Chinese silver taels.
The ships of the Dingyuan class were 308 feet (94 m) long between perpendiculars and 298.5 ft (91.0 m) long overall. They had a beam of 60 ft (18 m) and a draught of 20 ft (6.1 m). The ships displaced 7,144 long tons (7,259 t) as designed and up to 7,670 long tons (7,793 t) at full load. The ships' hulls were constructed out of steel, and were built with a naval ram in the bow. Steering was controlled by a single rudder. Each vessel had a crew of 363 officers and enlisted men. Two heavy military masts were fitted, one just in front of the main battery guns and one behind. A hurricane deck covered the turrets and ran from the foremast to the funnels. Each ship carried a pair of second-class torpedo boats astern of the funnels, along with derricks to unload them.
Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were powered by a pair of horizontal, three-cylinder trunk steam engines, each of which drove a single screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight cylindrical boilers that were ducted into a pair of funnels amidships. The boilers were divided into four boiler rooms. The engines were rated at 6,000 indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) for a top speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph), though both ships exceeded these figures on trials, with Zhenyuan, the faster of the two, reaching 7,200 ihp (5,400 kW) and 15.4 kn (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph). The ships carried 700 long tons (711 t) of coal normally and up to 1,000 long tons (1,016 t); this enabled a cruising radius of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). Both ships were fitted with sails for the voyage from Germany to China, though they were later removed.
The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns, mounted in two barbettes. The barbettes are sometimes reported to have been in different arrangements on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but both ships' guns were arranged identically, with the starboard barbette forward of the port one. The placement of the guns caused trim problems that led the ships to be wet forward.
There was quite some confusion about the exact model of the Dingyuan class' 12 inch Krupp guns. This seems trivial, but in fact, there was a huge difference between these models. An early extensive report about the ships stated that the 30.5 cm guns were 35 calibers long. If this were true, they would have been 10.7 m long 30.5 cm MRK L/35 guns. However, the drawings that accompanied the report showed a much shorter 30.5 cm gun. The confusion might have been caused by the Dingyuan class also using the 15 cm L/35, which was also exceptionally long.
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