The Sino-Japanese War did not give us a good impression, China was defeated in the war, and signed a treaty of loss of power and humiliation of the country, and because of this, we feel that the Qing army is vulnerable to the powerful Japanese warships, is history really like this?
It can be said that in the nearly one hundred years from britain opening the door of China to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle was the most backbone battle in the Chinese, although the Chinese side collapsed, but the entire Beiyang Navy did not humiliate China, did not disgrace the Qing Dynasty, although the Chinese side suffered heavy losses, but the Japanese side also suffered!
Before analyzing, let's first look at the gap in armaments between the enemy and us, the two sides of the Sino-Japanese Naval Battle were the Beiyang Naval Division and the Japanese Combined Fleet, at that time, the Beiyang Naval Division had 13 warships, 195 artillery pieces, and 556 torpedo launchers. The average speed was 10.2 knots, and the Japanese combined fleet did not completely defeat us, they had 16 warships, 268 guns, 568 torpedo launchers, the speed was slightly faster, reaching 14.5 knots, although slightly dominant, but the gap was not large, but the Beiyang Marine Division at that time was not loaded with rapid-fire artillery, which was different from the new Japanese ships.
After the start of the war, the Beiyang Navy adopted the traditional goose-shaped array, the defensive force was full, facing the goose-shaped array, the Japanese army took the lead in attacking our weak ships, and wanted to open a breakthrough, we also used the same strategy, paralyzing the Japanese Akagi and Hiei ships, and our super brave ships were also attacked by the enemy, and the two sides did not distinguish between victory and defeat.
The turning point appeared in the dingyuan ship's middle gun, the commander-in-chief Ding Ruchang was wounded and could not continue to command, which made the Beiyang Marine Division gradually lose its rules, and could only rely on its own experience to fight, which could reflect the advantage of speed, due to the weakening of the Beiyang Marine Division's mutual connection, the Japanese combined fleet used the speed advantage to encircle the rear of the Beiyang Marine Division, and in the case of the enemy in the abdomen, the Beiyang Marine Division fell into passivity.
However, under extremely unfavorable circumstances, the warriors were not afraid at all, and in the case of the bullet of the distant ship, they rushed straight into the enemy ships, and the warriors repaid the country with death, which was admirable.
In this battle, the Beiyang Marine Division had 4 ships sunk, two were forced to withdraw, the Japanese side also had 3 battleships paralyzed, the two sides suffered heavy losses, in addition to the results of the defeat, we should see their desperate fight, especially the Dingyuan ship still insisted on more than an hour under siege, and did not die and did not retreat.
Obviously, as the most powerful unit of the Daqing, the Beiyang Marine Division did not disgrace the Daqing, and it made the Japanese army fearful, which greatly frustrated the arrogance of the Japanese army, and the first to withdraw from the sea battlefield was the Japanese combined fleet, and therefore, the Japanese army only opened its mouth after the war to retaliate.
After this naval battle, the number of casualties of the Beiyang Marine Division was about 1,000, the Casualties of the Japanese Combined Fleet was nearly 600, the Beiyang Naval Division had five warships sunk, and the Japanese army also had five battleships that suffered heavy damage.
Therefore, the Beiyang Marine Division is not as "nested" as we think, they are national heroes, in the face of the powerful Japanese combined fleet, they are not afraid, a thousand times better than those who lost their ships in other battlefields and fled for their lives.
Because of Li Hongzhang's passive policy of avoiding war, which greatly affected morale, he was taught a lesson by the enemy and could only calm their anger by signing unequal treaties.