Famous Ships in Chinese History (VIII)

Today I would like to introduce to you the first wooden second-class cruiser built by the Chinese themselves - the "Yangwu".

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"Yangwu" ship (picture from the Internet)

The "Yangwu" was the seventh warship built by the Fuzhou Shipyard (also known as Fuzhou Shipyard).

In 1864, after the Opium War, Zuo Zongtang, then the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, wrote to the Qing court: "If we want to prevent the harm of the sea and reap its benefits, we must reorganize the navy; if we want to reorganize the navy, we must set up a bureau to supervise the construction of steamships."

"Setting up a bureau" refers to the establishment of the Fuzhou Shipyard.

"Shipbuilding" means building warships.

In 1866, Zuo Zongtang purchased 200 mu of land at the foot of Mawei Mountain and next to Luoxing Tower for the construction of the Ship Administration, and erected a monument that read "Ship Administration Officialdom".

The Fuzhou Shipyard had ironworks and shipyards specializing in the manufacture and repair of ships. From 1868 to 1894, it built a total of 33 transport ships and warships, including the first transport ship "Wannianqing", the first wooden-hulled warship "Meiyun", the first Chinese-made wooden-hulled second-class cruiser "Yangwu", the first iron-ribbed wooden-hulled second-class cruiser "Weiyuan", the first steel-armored and steel-hulled first-class cruiser "Pingyuan", etc. It was known as "the largest shipyard in the Far East".

At the same time, Fuzhou Shipyard also established the first new-style school in China, the Shipyard School (also known as Qiushitang Art Bureau), which was divided into two parts. The front school taught French and cultivated shipbuilding talents; the back school taught English and cultivated driving talents. Liu Buchan, Deng Shichang, Lin Yongsheng, Huang Jianxun and other outstanding generals who died in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 all came from this school.

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Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau (Picture from the Internet)

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Shipbuilding official boundary monument (Collection of China Maritime Museum)

At that time, Fuzhou Shipyard hired 38 foreigners, mainly French, as engineers and instructors, including Ri Yige and De Kebei from France as supervisors. Therefore, the early shipbuilding design, equipment and technology all adopted French technology.

In 1871, most of the foreign personnel left their posts after their employment ended, but the design and construction of the Yangwu ship still referred to the technology of the French Daring class cruiser. After the unremitting efforts of Chinese engineers and craftsmen trained in the Naval Academy, the ship was completed and put into service in 1872 and became the flagship of the Fujian Navy, marking that the Chinese could now build warships themselves.

The ship is 63.33 meters long, 11.99 meters wide, has a draft of 5.12 meters, a power of 1,130 horsepower, a displacement of 1,560 tons, a speed of 12 knots, and is equipped with 11 muzzle-loading guns of various types. It is a mixed motor and sail ship type, equipped with a special three-section retractable chimney, which can be raised when sailing at full sail to improve the combustion performance of the steam boiler (some say that shortening the chimney can avoid enemy shells).

The power and tonnage of the "Yangwu" ship were much higher than those of the ships built before, and its performance was also better than that of the Japanese Navy ships at that time. In the autumn and winter of 1874, the Japanese Navy and Army used the excuse that the people of the Mudan Society of the Taiwan Gaoshan ethnic group accidentally killed the Ryukyu boatmen who landed after a shipwreck (known as the Mudan Society Incident) to brazenly send troops to Taiwan. A fleet consisting of six ships including the "Yangwu" ship, led by the Imperial Commissioner Shen Baozhen, went to Taiwan Penghu to force the Japanese army to withdraw.

On November 18, 1875, the Yangwu entered the port of Nagasaki, Japan, and began its first visit to Japan. This was the first visit of a Chinese warship to Japan.

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Model of the "Yangwu" ship (Collection of China Maritime Museum)

At 13:56 on August 23, 1884, 10 warships of the French Far East Fleet anchored east of the Luoxing Tower anchorage, under the command of the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Courbet, suddenly opened fire on 11 warships of the Fujian Navy anchored west of the anchorage, thus starting the Sino-French Battle of Majiang. As the Fujian Navy was unprepared under the order of Imperial Commissioner Zhang Peilun that "they must wait until the French ships open fire before they are allowed to return fire", the battle lasted only 30 minutes, and the 11 warships of the Fujian Navy were sunk or sank themselves.

Afterwards, the French fleet began to bombard the shipyard and the shipyard's onshore facilities, sinking 19 docked transport ships and destroying the shipyard. In this battle, 796 officers and soldiers of the Fujian Navy were killed. However, in the battle, the "Yangwu" ship took the lead in firing back at the French ships, and the first shot hit the bridge of the French flagship "Wolda", and cut the anchor chain to deal with the French ship.

Subsequently, the French No. 45 torpedo boat hit the Yangwu ship with a torpedo, which blew a huge hole in the side of the ship, and the ship began to sink after taking in water. However, the Yangwu ship fought back as it sank, damaging a French torpedo boat. At the last moment before sinking into the river, a sailor struggled to climb up the main mast and raised a yellow dragon flag, demonstrating the spirit of the Fujian Navy to fight to the death and not surrender.