Summary
Hai Yung (Chinese: 海容; pinyin: Hǎiróng) was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Chinese Navy. Hai Yung was one of a class of three ships built in Germany for the Chinese after the losses of the First Sino-Japanese War.[1] The ship was a small protected cruiser with quick-firing guns, a departure from the prewar Chinese navy's emphasis on heavy but slow-firing weapons for its cruisers. Hai Yung resembled the British protected cruisers of the Apollo class and Italian Regioni class, and may have been modeled on the similar Dutch Gelderland-class cruisers.[2] Germany itself would increase the number of similar ships for its own navy starting with the Gazelle class and its faster successors up until World War I.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  China | |
| Name | Hai Yung |
| Builder | Vulcan |
| Launched | 15 September 1897 |
| Completed | 1898 |
| Fate | Scuttled 11 August 1937 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Hai Yung-class protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 2680 tons |
| Length | 328 ft (100.0 m) |
| Beam | 40 ft 9 in (12.4 m) |
| Draft | 19 ft (5.8 m) |
| Propulsion | 2-shaft reciprocating VTE, 7,500 ihp (5,600 kW), 8 cylindrical boilers, 200–580 tons coal |
| Speed | 19.5 knots (22.4 mph; 36.1 km/h) |
| Complement | 244 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
In 1906 Hai Yung was sent on a six-month journey to survey the conditions of overseas Chinese communities in South-East Asia.[3] Much of the navy switched loyalties to the rebellion that overthrew the Manchu dynasty in 1911.[citation needed]. On 24 April 1916, Hai Yung collided with the Chinese Army transport ship Hsin-Yu in the East China Sea south of the Chusan Islands. Hsin-Yu sank with the loss of about 1,000 lives.[4]
Hai Yung and her sister ships survived the revolution and were obsolete by 1935, when they were discarded.[5] They all were scuttled as blockships in the Yangtze on 11 August 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[6]
References edit
- ^ Conways, p. 397
- ^ Wright, p. 111
- ^ Wright, p. 123
- ^ "Chinese transport sunk". The Times. No. 41150. London. 25 April 1916. col B, p. 4.
- ^ Gray, Randal, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-85177-245-5, p. 396.
- ^ Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 397.
Bibliography edit
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Wright, R., The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862–1945 (London, 2001)