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February 17, 1895, was the most humiliating day in the history of Weihaiwei, a small town at the eastern tip of the Shandong Peninsula.
Weihaiwei Bay, and Liugong Island in the sea, were important military ports for the Beiyang Navy, China's first modernized national navy, but on that day, the military port opened its doors to the enemy. At about 9 a.m., a formation of Japanese warships flying the flag of the rising sun sailed into Wei Bay. At the same time, the Beiyang Naval practice ship "Kangji", carrying the coffins of Admiral Ding Ruchang, the chief soldier Liu Butou and others, as well as the remaining naval officers, sailed out of Wei Bay, which was the only warship in the bay that day that still flew the dragon flag. When the Chinese and Japanese warships met each other, the Japanese side fired its cannons to mourn, and the Beiyang Navy, which once dominated East Asia, bid farewell to the stage of history in such a miserable and miserable scene.
The coffins of Ding Ruchang and others were transported from the iron dock of Liugong Island to the "Kangji" ship. Courtesy of source/author
Twenty years ago, in 1875, stimulated by Japan's invasion of Taiwan in 1874, the Qing government instructed the generals and governors of the coastal provinces to discuss coastal defense policies, and decided that the Ministers of International Trade and Commerce of the South and Beiyang would be responsible for the preparation of the South and Beiyang navies respectively, as the basic strategy for China's modernization of naval construction. Later, because Beiyang Coastal Defense was related to the maritime security of the Gyeonggi Gateway, its importance was outstanding, and it was able to flourish and give priority to construction. Through the painstaking management of Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang for more than 10 years, a fleet with a total strength of more than 3,000 troops and 25 ships (including 15 combat ships) has been built, as well as a huge back road system with Tianjin, Lushun, Dalian Bay, Weihaiwei, Yantai, Jiao'ao (now Qingdao) and other military ports as support points, including batteries, schools, machine bureaus, hospitals and other institutions. In 1888, the Beiyang Marine Division was officially established by the state and renamed the Beiyang Navy, which was the first national economic-controlled armed force in Chinese history to adopt the naval designation.
The Beiyang Navy opened a new chapter in the history of China's military system, naval history and other fields, due to the complete modernization of equipment, the personnel is also highly specialized, was the most distinctive armed force of the Qing Dynasty at that time, known as the "proud of Europe" fleet. However, from the 1890s onwards, the Beiyang Navy was stopped from updating its equipment, and was rapidly surpassed by the Japanese Navy in the context of rapid technological development. In 1894, Japan provoked the invasion of Korea and China in the Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Navy bore the brunt of the sea, and fought hard with the Japanese Navy, and finally in 1895, the combat strength was exhausted and liugong island was defeated.
Pictures of Beiyang Marine Division exercises. Source/Chen Yue: "The Chinese Navy's Centennial Military Uniform (I)", Modern Ships, No. 6, 2006
Pick up the ship
After the fall of Liugong Island on February 17, 1895, the remaining officers and men of the Beiyang Navy gathered in Yantai, the nearest important port city to Weihai, to await disposal. According to the instructions of Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, except for the "Kangji" ship that was released by the Japanese army, all the remaining officers and men should be demobilized after the arrears were repaid (in view of the fact that Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Beiyang Navy, made a conditional surrender to the Japanese side on February 11, the pay should only be counted until February 12), and the senior officers at the captain level will be further investigated for their defeat.
The Qing government opened the archives of the Beiyang naval officers. Courtesy of source/author
As a chain reaction to the defeat of the Beiyang Navy, on March 12, the Prime Minister's Naval Affairs Yamen folded up and voluntarily requested the abolition of the organization on the grounds that "the Yamen has no requirements for the time being", and all the rated naval funds were also dismissed from the Household Department, and at the same time, the Tianjin Water Division School and the Kunming Lake Water Division School, which were the source of the former Beiyang Naval Officers, were also abolished and suspended. On July 22 of that year, Wang Wenshao, the acting governor of the Beiyang Navy, wrote off all 315 officers in the Beiyang Navy on the grounds that "the ship has been lost.". At this point, the Beiyang Navy no longer existed in terms of organization.
After the fall of the Beiyang Navy, the Qing Dynasty's disposition stemmed from the traditional Chinese military ethics and the punishment posture of the defeated army in the military laws of the Qing Dynasty, on the other hand, due to the loss of the ships of the Beiyang Navy in the war, Lushun, Dalian Bay, Weihaiwei and other coastal defense ports were also occupied by Japan, in fact, the Beiyang maritime armed forces were almost lifeless.
The turnaround came in the summer of 1895.
After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War on August 1, 1894, Empress Dowager Cixi decreed that all the principal of the "huge naval funds" previously reported by the provinces to the Summer Palace project should be used to purchase naval arms, and Li Hongzhang, then minister of Beiyang, began a round of overseas ship purchases through Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, inquiring about various news about the sale of ships in the international market, and even contacting European and South American countries with the intention of repurchasing ready-made warships of foreign navies in order to quickly enrich the combat strength of the Beiyang Navy. However, almost all of these ship purchases ended in failure, with the only success being the construction of a concept torpedo gunboat "Flying Thunder" in The Armstrong Company in England in August 1894, and a new torpedo gunboat called "Flying Eagle" in October 1894 at the German Voltor.
Due to the late time of the order, the "Flying Thunder" and "Flying Eagle" could not rush to China during the war, and when the second ship was completed, it was already after the end of the Sino-Japanese War. In the summer of 1895, the acceptance of these two warships was put on the table of the Beiyang Minister, for which a number of former Beiyang Navy officers and men who had been dismissed were activated.
The "Flying Thunderbolt" ship. Source/ Weng Wei: "Imperial Light Horse" Late Qing Dynasty "Flying Thunder" Torpedo Gunboat", Shipboard Weapons, No. 8, 2006
On June 23, 1895, the "Flying Thunder" was piloted by the British crew, set sail from the northern British port of Newcastle, and arrived safely in Tianjin Dagu on September 21 for delivery. In order to assign crews to the ship, Beiyang Minister Wang Wenshao instructed him to form a receiving unit, and a group of officers and men of the Beiyang Navy, including Chen Zhaojun, the former "Dingyuan" ship's large pipe ship, returned to the sea.
The "Flying Eagle" ship on the way home. Courtesy of source/author
In July, the "Flying Eagle" ship built by the German Volching Company had been completed and needed to be sent to receive it as soon as possible, and the Beiyang Minister again used Chen Entao, the former governor of the Beiyang Navy, and Liu Guanxiong, the former "Jingyuan" ship, and the two recruited the officers and men of the former Beiyang Navy in Zhili, Shandong, Fuzhou, and other places, formed a receiving unit, and on July 18, took a merchant ship from Shanghai to Germany to pick up the ship, and successfully sailed back to China at the end of that year, and the "Flying Eagle" became the first warship of the Chinese Navy to re-energize on the international stage after the Sino-Japanese War.
Because the beiyang navy has been abolished, at this time, these former Beiyang naval officers who have been activated do not have formal official status, and their appointments are temporary "mission committees", which are very similar to the scene when the Beiyang Naval Division was first formed, and gradually a large number of Beiyang Coastal Defense warships have also begun to use the informal name of beiyang naval division.
Modulation
Shortly after the "Flying Thunder" and "Flying Eagles" returned to China one after another and became an army, Beiyang Coastal Defense encountered urgent requirements for rebuilding the navy.
On May 8, 1895, representatives of the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese government completed the formalities for the renewal of the treaty in Yantai, Shandong, and the Treaty of Maguan, which had lost unprecedented power and humiliated the country, officially entered into force, and the Sino-Japanese War ended. In the "Maguan Treaty", Japan not only demanded huge compensation for military expenses, but also invaded and occupied China's Liaodong Peninsula and Taiwan, which brought about drastic changes in the pattern of state power in Northeast Asia. Russia, France, and Germany, which harbor intentions for the interests of Northeast Asia, are not willing to sit idly by, and have joined hands to threaten and "advise" Japan, demanding that Japan return the Liaodong Peninsula to China. On November 8, 1895, the Qing Dynasty and Japan signed the Treaty of Liaonan in Beijing regarding China's redemption of Liaodong, according to which the Japanese army would withdraw from Liaodong after the Qing Dynasty paid the ransom fee, and the Liaodong area, including the important military port of Lushun, would be reclaimed by China. With the return of Lushun, the problem of reconstructing Beiyang coastal defense is imminent.
Li Hongzhang signed the Treaty of Maguan. Source/Screenshot of the documentary "Jia Wu"
At the end of the Sino-Japanese War, the slightly largest modernized fleet along the Chinese coastline included the Nanyang Marine Division, which lived in Wusongkou. At the request of Wang Wenshao, on the day of the signing of the Treaty of Southern Liaoning, on November 8, 1895, the Qing government issued an edict to Zhang Zhidong, the minister of Nanyang, asking all five capital ships of the Nanyang Marine Division at that time to "Kaiji", "Jingqing", "Huantai", "Nanchen" and "Nanrui" to go north at the same time and "fill in the defense" in the Beiyang area. Zhang Zhidong believed that these warships in Nanyang were old and useless, and in consultation with the Prime Minister of Shipping, Bian Baoquan, the only capital ship of the Shipping Administration, the torpedo cruiser "Fujing", was also transferred to the north and went to beiyang with the warships of the Nanbei Ocean Marine Division. Soon after, the Beiyang Minister directly contacted the Shipping Administration, calling on the newly built "Tongji" practice ship of the Shipping Administration, and Li He, a former Beiyang Naval officer, took over the north and undertook the heavy responsibility of cultivating a new generation of naval officers.
These warships, which were temporarily seconded to the north, and after gathering with the "Flying Thunder", "Flying Eagle", and "Kangji" of Beiyang Coastal Defense at that time, they also became a fleet of slight size, and the long-blank Yellow Bohai Sea area finally appeared the track of the Dragon flagship, which became a certain important sign of rebuilding the navy.
After recovering Lushun, the "Flying Eagle" ship was moored in lushun donggang pond. Courtesy of source/author
Ship purchase
China's modern naval construction began in the 1860s and was initially put in charge by the Prime Minister's Department of State Affairs. In 1866, Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, played the Qing court and applied for the establishment of a shipping administration, so that the specific work of naval construction was once changed to the responsibility of the premier ship administration yamen in Mawei, Fuzhou. After the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1874, the Qing government adjusted its naval construction strategy to be presided over by the Minister of Southern and Northern Oceans, and behind it was reverted to the leadership of the Prime Minister's Ministry of State Affairs, and the early purchase of warships such as mosquito ships in Beiyang Coastal Defense was all through the Prime Minister's Office of State Affairs. This situation developed after the Sino-French War in 1885, when the Qing Dynasty established a new prime minister's naval affairs gate, and once again removed the power of naval construction from the prime minister's national affairs gate. In 1895, the Beiyang Navy was defeated, the Navy Yamen was abolished, and the dominance of naval construction theoretically returned to the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen.
The main room of the Qing Prime Minister's State Affairs Yamen East Courtyard. Source/cnki Academic Knowledge Picture Library Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 2005
Behind the changeable dominance of naval construction, it is revealed that the power game at the top of the Qing Dynasty and the ambiguity of the top-level strategy are revealed. When the Beiyang Navy, which had previously been led by the Minister of the Navy, Prince Yizhen of the Navy, was swept away, and the right to build the Navy reappeared in the vision of Prime Minister Yamen, the Prime Minister Yamen presided over by Prince Gong Yichen seemed to want to show his ability, and in 1896 began a considerable construction action.
Through the channel of Chinese embassies abroad, Prime Minister Yamen intends to purchase a batch of brand new warships and restore the navy.
An original model of the "Hairong" class cruiser in the collection of Peking University. Courtesy of source/author
In May and June 1896, after repeated program demonstration and revision in the early stages, Prime Minister Yamen ordered three dome-armored cruisers of the same type to the German Voltaire Company in one fell swoop, named "Hai rong", "hai chip" and "Hai Chen" with the word "hai", this single-ship displacement of 2950 tons of warships, designed to resemble the powerful opponent of the Beiyang Navy in the Sino-Japanese War - the japanese Navy's new cruiser "Yoshino", the large and medium-caliber guns of the whole ship are all Krupp rapid-fire guns.
Sea Dragon class destroyer. Courtesy of source/author
Immediately after that, Prime Minister Yamen ordered a 4-class destroyer to the German Hirschshaw Shipyard, which was also named with the word "sea", called "sea dragon", "sea rhinoceros", "sea blue" and "haihua", this warship displacement of 305 tons, speed of 32 knots, belongs to the world's newest, the highest speed of warships at that time.
Cruiser Haitian. Courtesy of source/author
According to the original plan of Prime Minister Yamen, it was originally necessary to build 2 capital ships in the German Voltaire Company, which was designed as a small former dreadnought with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons, but later may have been influenced by British forces, these 2 capital ships were ordered by the British Armstrong Company, and the design was changed to a 4300-ton dome cruiser, named "Haitian" and "Haixi".
In 1896, prime minister Yamen issued a batch of warship orders, clearly outlined the general appearance of a fleet, and in the future, these 5 "sea" cruisers and 4 "sea" destroyers will form the main lineup of the new navy, supplemented by the existing domestic "Flying Thunder" and "Flying Eagle" ships, and rebuild the navy. What is less well known is that after the blackmail of indemnities after the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, the Treasury of the Qing Dynasty was actually on the verge of depletion, and the funds used by Prime Minister Yamen to purchase these ships actually came from a large amount of money raised from the issuance of government bonds in the international market.
In a short period of time, a large number of intensive custom-built warships immediately put demand on naval professionals. In order to ensure the quality of ship construction, a number of former Beiyang Navy officers were put into use one after another and sent to Europe to serve as supervisors, among them Zeng Zongying and Lin Mingxun went to Germany to supervise the construction of cruisers such as "Hai Rong"; Lü Wenjing, Cai Haoyuan, He Jialan, Lü Qiaoyong, and Lin Guoxi supervised the construction of the "Hailong" class destroyers; and Cheng Biguang, Lin Guoxiang, Lu Shoumeng, Tan Xueheng, Chen Zhenpei, and Li Biliang went to Britain to supervise the construction of the "Haitian" and "Haixi" destroyers.
rebirth
The nine ships ordered in Europe in 1896 were built in 1898-1899, and the builders were responsible for hiring sailors to fly them to China for delivery. This ship needs to be equipped with more than a thousand crews, and in order to make it an army as soon as possible, a larger number of former Beiyang Navy officers and men were summoned to use at this time.
Ye Zujue, the first commander of the newly built Beiyang Marine Division, helped Tongsa to cool the ice. Source/ Screenshot of Liaoning Satellite TV's "School of Ship Administration"
On April 17 of that year, the Qing court issued a decree that Ye Zujue, the highest-ranking officer in the central plains who was the former surviving officer and soldier of the Beiyang Navy, was dismissed from his post, reinstated to his original title, and reinstated to command the newly formed fleet. The former captain of the "Kangji" ship, Sa Zhenbing, was also dismissed from his post, reinstated as an official, a title, and served as a helper, and the name of the fleet was still called beiyang marine division, which was controlled by the beiyang minister, which was actually equivalent to the national navy of the Qing Dynasty. (When the Beiyang Navy fell in 1895, the remaining top officers were the vice admirals Ye Zujue and Qiu Baoren, and when beiyang coastal defense revived the old generals, Qiu Baoren refused to return due to poor health, and Ye Zujue became the leader of the new fleet.) ）
From then until 1902 to 1903, upon the application of Yuan Shikai, then minister of Beiyang, the naval officers who were dismissed from their posts and were dismissed from their posts and reinstated as naval officers who were dismissed from their posts and retained in the battalion were dismissed one by one and dismissed from their official posts. In 1904, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Ye Zujue, commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, submitted a letter to Yuan Shikai, the minister of Beiyang, and made a long-standing request on behalf of the entire army of the Beiyang Naval Division.
In the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Navy fought bloody battles in Fengdao, Dadonggou and Weihai, and a large number of loyal and courageous soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country, but because of the final defeat, not only was the fleet organization cancelled and the personnel dismissed, but the martyrs who died were almost all in a position that no one mentioned, except for Deng Shichang and Lin Yongsheng, who died the most fiercely, and for a long time they did not receive the state's ceremony, Ye Zujue applied to set up a special shrine for the martyrs of the Beiyang Navy. This move is not only a sacrifice to the martyrs, but also a justification of the name of the Beiyang Navy, affirming the sacrifices and efforts made by this fleet in the Battle of Jiawu.
After hesitation, consultation, and debate, Yuan Shikai made a decision in 1907 to approve the establishment of the Beiyang Naval Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall in Tianjin. This army, which was abolished in 1895, not only completed the reconstruction of ships and the activation and rehabilitation of personnel, but also achieved a spiritual revitalization.
The Tianjin Municipal Cultural Relics Administration Department found three large-scale stone pedestals intricately carved at the site of the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall of the Beiyang Navy. Source/ "Tianjin Discovered Beiyang Navy Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall Inscription", Science and Technology Tide, No. 9, 1998
After that, the Qing Dynasty reorganized the national warships in 1909, and the Beiyang Marine Division rebuilt in the afternoon of A finally obtained the official organization and became a refined cruiser fleet, its history stretched, in the Xinhai Revolution, it was raised in Jiujiang, the First Fleet of the Main Force of the Navy during the Republic of China, in 1937 it was bloody Jiangyin blocked the line, and after the victory of the War of Resistance, it was reorganized into the Coastal Defense Fleet, of which the Second Fleet of Coastal Defense revolted on the Nanjing River on April 23, 1949, tracing back to the roots, the context can be seen.