Chinese ironclad Zhenyuan

Background

Zhenyuan displaced 7,670 tons loaded and had a speed of 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph). At 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), she had a range of around 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi). Her armament consisted of four 12-inch (300 mm) 25 calibre Krupp breech-loading guns in two barbettes one either side with a secondary armament of two 5.9-inch (150 mm) 35 calibre Krupp breech-loaders placed fore and aft. To this were added six 37 mm guns and three above the waterline torpedo tubes. The total complement was around 363 officers and ratings.

Zhenyuan was built by Stettiner Vulcan AG, in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland). The keel was laid in March 1882, she was launched on 28 November 1882 and started her sea trials in March 1884.

Chinese service

Zhenyuan was based out of Lüshunkou, the chief naval station of the Beiyang Fleet. In 1886, she participated in show of force, touring Hong Kong, the Japanese port of Nagasaki, Korean ports of Busan and Wonsan, and the Russian naval base of Vladivostok together with Dingyuan and four cruisers. While in Nagasaki on 13 August 1886, a number of drunken sailors from Zhenyuan became involved in a brawl in a local brothel, during which a Japanese police officer was fatally stabbed. Attributing the issue to lax discipline, Qing Admiral Ding Ruchang suspended shore leave for a day, but allowed 450 sailors to go ashore on 15 August. Contrary to an agreement with local authorities, many were armed. Anticipating trouble due to increasing anti-Chinese sentiment by the local population, the Japanese police deployed additional men, but were unable to prevent a riot from erupting between stone-throwing locals and the men from Zhenyuan. In what came to be called the Nagasaki Incident, six sailors were killed and forty-five wounded, along with five Japanese policemen killed and sixteen wounded. In handling the diplomatic incident, Qing military advisor Captain William M. Lang took a hard line against Japanese authorities, refusing to make any apologies or reparations, and reminding the Japanese of the overwhelming firepower of his fleet and threatening war. However, the incident was resolved through diplomatic efforts.

During the First Sino-Japanese War, Zhenyuan was commanded by Philo McGiffin and saw action at the Battle of the Yalu River, of 17 September 1894, during which she suffered severe damage. Repaired at the dockyards at Lüshunkou, she was ordered to transfer out of that port to Weihaiwei in Shandong Province immediately prior to the Battle of Lushunkou, as Viceroy Li Hongzhang could not afford politically to lose any more ships to the Imperial Japanese Navy. However, when entering Weihaiwei harbor, Zhenyuan struck a rock and had to be beached, as the only repair facilities were at Lüshunkou. Her captain, Lin Taizeng, committed suicide by overdose of opium over the incident. Captured by the Japanese after the Battle of Weihaiwei on 17 February 1895, Zhenyuan was taken as a prize of war.

Japanese service

Rebuilt in 1896/7 and commissioned under the name Chin'en (the Japanese rendition of the ship's original Chinese name), Zhenyuan was the only battleship in the Imperial Japanese Navy until the commissioning of Fuji. She served during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in escorting Japanese troopships to the Asian mainland.

In 1901, she was renovated by replacement of her two old 6-inch (150 mm) Krupp guns by four rapid-fire 6-inch Armstrong cannon. One gun remained in a small nose gun turret; however, her rear turret was removed, with the stern gun mounted behind a gun shield. The remaining 6-inch guns were retained in the massive turret behind the bridge. She also received two 57-millimetre (2.2 in), eight 47-millimetre (1.9 in) and two 37-millimetre (1.5 in) rapid-fire guns, and improvements to her boilers brought her speed up to 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). However, on 27 May 1903 during a training exercise, an explosion in one of her main guns killed her gun crew of 12 crewmen.

Considered obsolete by the time of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, Chin'en was rated as a second-line battleship, and served escort duty as well as participating in the Blockade of Port Arthur. She was damaged on 10 August 1904 taking two hits from the Russian fleet. During the Battle of Tsushima, she was relegated to the IJN 5th Fleet, and was successful in attacking Russian troop transports.

On 12 December 1905, Chin'en was re-classed as a 1st class coastal defense ship, but in May 1908 was de-rated to a training vessel. She was struck from the navy list on 1 April 1911 and became a target ship. She was damaged by a salvo from the cruiser Kurama in 1911 and rendered inoperable. She was sold for scrap on 6 April 1912, and scrapped in Yokohama in 1914.