Chinese cruiser Jingyuan (1886)
Jingyuan (Chinese: 靖遠; pinyin: Jìngyuǎn; Wade–Giles: Ching Yuen) was a protected cruiser built for the Imperial Chinese Navy. She was built by Armstrong Whitworth in Elswick, England. She was one of two Zhiyuen-class protected cruisers built, alongside her sister ship Zhiyuen. Jingyuan was armed with a smaller number of large sized naval guns, as opposed to later ships of this type (such as the Royal Navy Pearl-class) which carried a larger number of smaller guns. This was because the medium-calibre quick-firing gun had yet to be introduced, thus a warship's firepower at the time was largely a function of individual shell weight rather than volume of fire.
The Chinese cruiser Jingyuan in August 1887 while in the Solent near Portsmouth | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Imperial China | |
| Name | Jingyuan |
| Ordered | October 1885 |
| Builder | Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, England |
| Yard number | 494 |
| Laid down | 20 October 1885 |
| Launched | 14 December 1886 |
| Completed | 9 July 1887 |
| Fate | Sunk in shallow water and scuttled, 9 February 1895 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Zhiyuen-class protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 2,300 long tons (2,300 t) |
| Length | 268 ft (82 m) |
| Beam | 38 ft (12 m) |
| Draft | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Capacity | 510 tons of coal |
| Complement | 204–260 officers and men |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Both ships were assigned to the Beiyang Fleet. Jingyuan was part of a flotilla which toured ports during the summer of 1889. Jingyuan first saw action during the First Sino-Japanese War. At the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, she was one of the surviving Chinese cruisers, although suffered fire damage. She was sunk the following February during the Battle of Weihaiwei from a shot fired from a captured Chinese fort. She sank upright in shallow water, and Admiral Ding Ruchang gave orders for her to be destroyed by a naval mine. She was raised the following year for scrap.