Dingyuan warship

Dingyuan battleship

synonym

Dingyuan is generally designated as a battleship

The Dingyuan battle ship / steel battleships, which cost 6.2 million marks (equivalent to 370000 pounds), is a Dingyuan class battle ship. It was commissioned by the Qing Dynasty to be named "Stettin" by Germany. The site was originally owned by Germany, and was transferred to Poland after World War II. It is a 7000 ton first-class armored ship built by Vulcan shipyard of Szczecin. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were the main ships of the Northern Fleet of the Qing Dynasty. In 1881, Dingyuan was launched on December 28 of the same year, and Zhenyuan was launched on November 28 of the next year. Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were completed in 1884. Dingyuan cost about 1.4 million taels of silver, and Zhenyuan cost about 1.42 million taels of silver. At that time, British ambassador Wilma pointed out that the price of the two armored ships was very cheap at that time. The German government won the order to stimulate heavy industry and increase Germany's political influence in the Far East. (Ji Nan, British diplomacy with China). In 1885, the second warship arrived at Dagukou and joined the Beiyang Navy. At that time, the second ship was called "the largest ship in Asia". In the same year, another 2440 ton cruiser, Jiyuan, was purchased in Germany. Its performance was far inferior to that of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but its cost accounted for nearly half of the former, 680000 taels of silver. In the ship building contract, it was originally stipulated that the cargo would be shipped to China after the completion of the war, but due to the impact of the Sino French war, Germany needed to remain neutral, so it would be shipped after the end of the war. Dingyuan was commissioned in October 1885 and became the flagship of Beiyang Navy in Qing Dynasty. The existing 1:1 Dingyuan ship model is anchored at Liugong Island base in Weihai, Shandong Province.

On September 2, 2019, the "demonstration meeting on the delimitation of the protection area for the site of the No.1 Jiawu warship in Weihai Bay" was held in Liugong Island, Weihai, Shandong Province. After experts' argumentation, the sinking position of the Qing Dynasty Beiyang Navy flagship Dingyuan warship has been basically confirmed, and a number of cultural relics of the warship have been unearthed.

Specific data

Dingyuan, also known as the "Saxon" improved warship in the West. Dingyuan

At that time, he Zhenyuan was called "the largest ship in Asia". The ship is 94.5 meters long, 18 meters wide, 6 meters draught, 7335 tons or 7430 tons of normal displacement, 7670 tons of full load displacement, powered by two horizontal three cylinder reciprocating steam engines and eight circular coal-fired boilers, with power of 6200, speed of 14.5 knots ("Zhenyuan" is 7200 horsepower, speed of 15.4 knots), endurance of 4500 nautical miles / 10 knots, and equipped with searchlights of 8000 candlelight and 20000 candlelight One, with three generators ("Zhenyuan" provides two generators) providing 70 kW of power. The total weight of armor is 1461 tons. The armor on the water line of tiejiabao is 14 inches (355mm) thick, the armor under the water line is 12 inches (305mm), the armor of 305 gun base is 304mm thick, the shield is 15mm thick, the armor of the command tower is 203mm thick, the coal carrying capacity of the coal tank is 700 tons, the maximum coal carrying capacity is 1000 tons, the establishment is 329-363 people, and the pipe belt is the rank of chief soldier.

weaponry

Main gun

Dingyuan is equipped with four German Krupp 305mm breech guns (one twin turret on the port side and one on the starboard side respectively, powered by water pressure, with each gun weighing 31.5 tons and 25 caliber).

Auxiliary gun

There are two Krupp 150 mm breech auxiliary guns (one at the bow and one at the stern, each with a weight of 4.75 tons and 35 caliber), four 75 mm Krupp guns, eight 37 mm five barrel haqikas gun, two 57 mm and 47 mm haqikas rapid fire guns, three 14 inch torpedo tubes (one on both sides and one at the stern, equipped with 21 torpedoes), and the total number of main guns is 22, which is the same as Zhenyuan ship.

Shipborne torpedo boat

In addition, the two ships were equipped with two torpedo boats (one said three boats), named "Dingyi", "dinger", "Zhenyi" and "zhener", with displacement of 16 tons, length of 19.5 meters, 110 horsepower and speed of 15 knots. They were equipped with a 37 mm haqikai gun and two 14 inch torpedo launch tubes (one on the left and one on the right of bow). The four boats fled with "Zuoyi" in the later period of Weihaiwei defense war, and "Dingyi" was in Weihai After being pulled out by Japanese boats, they were sunk by wind and waves near Yinshan; dinger and Zhenyi ran aground near Yantai and then self destructed; zhener was hit and sank near the iron wharf of Liugong Island, which was later picked up by Japanese troops and incorporated into the Japanese fleet and renamed "No.28".

Construction process

To commemorate this period of history, China began to build a one-to-one replica of Dingyuan in 2004. The project started in May. Weihai port and local enterprise Weigao Group invested 50 million yuan. Ruixing shipping engineering of Qinhuangdao was responsible for the project, and imitated it in strict accordance with the specifications at that time. The memorial ship was built and launched on September 13 and sailed to Weihai harbor on April 16, 2005. On that day, a sea memorial ceremony was held to commemorate the Beiyang navy who fought against the Japanese army in the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895. At present, the replica is moored in Weihai harbor as a water museum, displaying Dingyuan, Beiyang Navy and the Sino Japanese War of 1894.

In 1880 (the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty), Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, ordered the products from volkeng shipyard in tanterbredu, Germany, through Li Fengbao, Chinese envoy to Germany, Liu Buchan, Wei Han, Chen Zhaoao, Zheng Qinglian, etc. were sent to the factory to supervise the construction. The design of this class of warships focused on the advantages of the most advanced first-class armored warships in the world at that time, the British "inflaixibai" and the German "Saxon" two warships. They were "the first-class armored warship in the world". Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, personally named the two warships, "Ding", "Zhen" two warships and "Jiyuan" two warships For the same batch of construction, it was supposed to be delivered to China in 1884, but at that time when China and France were at war, Germany delayed the delivery of ships because of neutrality. Until 1885, the rear area of Sino French peace negotiation was to be delivered to China. The three ships were flying German merchant flag and escorted by German sailors. They arrived at Dagukou, Tianjin, and handed over to China at the end of October 1885. Among them, "Dingyuan" became the flagship of Beiyang Navy. In August 1886, when the Beiyang navy "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Jiyuan" and "Weiyuan" were moored in Nagasaki, Japan for supply and maintenance (it was speculated that they were routine oiling for the armored ships to prevent corrosion. At that time, because China had no dock to accommodate the armored ships, they had to go to Japan), "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" caused panic in the Japanese government and the public. On the 13th and 15th, the Chinese sailors who went ashore on vacation fought with the Japanese for prostitution and shopping, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Later, under China's diplomatic and military pressure and the mediation of Western powers, they ended up compensating each other for their losses, which is known as the "sakazaki case". Since then, Japan has made up its mind to build the so-called Sanjiang warships (namely "Matsushima", "Yandao" and "Qiaoli") with "Ding" and "Zhen" as its imaginary enemies.

Both warships took part in the Yellow Sea war on September 17, 1894. In the sea war, the Japanese fleet's flagship "Matsushima" was hit by the main gun of the "Zhenyuan" warship, causing a fire and losing its combat effectiveness, and was forced to withdraw from the battlefield. However, due to the sudden encounter with the enemy and insufficient preparation, the Beiyang navy was short of ammunition for "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", and failed to give full play to its combat effectiveness in the naval battle. On November 14, 1894, the "Zhenyuan" warship was injured when it came into the harbor. Because the Lushun shipyard was occupied by the Japanese army and had no place to repair, it was impossible to go out to sea. Guan Dai Lin Tai took the blame and committed suicide the next day and night. On the night of February 4, 1895, "Dingyuan" was attacked and injured by the Japanese "No.9" torpedo boat which intruded into the harbor. On February 9, "Dingyuan" was hit by the Japanese occupied Fort fire and was seriously damaged. On the next day, "Dingyuan" was self exploded. On February 17, "Zhenyuan" was captured by the Japanese army and incorporated into the Japanese fleet, still known as "Zhenyuan". It became the first combat ship of the Japanese Navy and participated in the Russo Japanese War and Meiji In 1898, it was designated as a second-class warship (in Japanese, "warship" means combat ship and battleship). In December 1905, it was changed into a first-class coastal defense ship. On April 1, 1911, it was removed from its original status as a weapon target ship, 1912 On April 6, 2004, it was sold and disassembled. The display guns in the command module and the map of Haijiang were delivered to the memorial hall of the Japanese Navy Ministry for preservation. The anchor and chain were displayed by the Japanese government in Tokyo's Ueno Park.

After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, the fine furnishings of the Japanese Admiralty were seized by the US Army. Among them, the display guns of the command module of the "Zhenyuan" warship, the map of the sea border, the pictures of the victory of the Japanese Admiralty in the Sino Japanese Naval War of 1895 and the photos of the Japanese surrender signature are now collected in the History Museum of the American Academy of Asian culture. The rest of the humiliating remains of the "Zhenyuan" warship were collected by the "Feixing" and "longshun" of China Merchants Group in 1947 ”The ship returned to the motherland in two batches.

Sea battle in the Yellow Sea

On August 1, 1894, China and Japan declared war. The main force of the Northern Fleet, led by Ding Ruchang, cruised to the sea to find the decisive battle of the Japanese fleet. Ding Ruchang's flagship is the "Dingyuan" combat ship. The Beiyang fleet started from Weihai base. On September 13, 1894, the main force of the Beiyang fleet came to Lushun, and no Japanese warships were found along the way.

On September 16, 1894, the Northern Fleet escorted him

Chinese PinYin : Ding Yuan Jian