On September 15, 1894, China and Japan fought the world's first fleet battle with steam ironclad ships as the main fleet in the Yellow Sea, and since then, the beginning of the era of giant ships and cannons has also begun. At that time, this war attracted the attention of people from all walks of life around the world, most of the Western media believed that the Beiyang Naval Division of the Great Qing Dynasty was the first fleet in Asia, the seventh in the world, and the Japanese Navy was a rising star whose strength was not as good as that of the Great Qing, and until now there are still many people who hold this view, which believes that Japan is weak to win the strong, but is this really the case? Let's compare the hard and soft power of the fleets of the two sides at that time.
One. Comparison of the main parameters of the fleet
In the Battle of the Yellow Sea between China and Japan, the two sides could have sent their full combat strength, so we used specific parameters to compare the combat strength of the two fleets. First of all, the Beiyang Marine Division has 10 main battleships, 8 auxiliary battleships with a total of 18 warships, and the Japanese fleet with a total of 12 warships, but the Beiyang Marine Division, a large warship with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, only has two Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and Japan has 8 battleships of more than 3,000 tons, while the number of guns is 195 in total, the Japanese army is 268, and more importantly, the First Guerrilla Fleet, the strongest combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, is basically equipped with new rapid-fire guns, and the rate of fire is 6 times that of the Qing artillery. Look at the most important speed of the Qing army in the naval battle, the average speed of the Qing army is 10.2 knots, the Japanese army is 14.5 knots, especially the Japanese army's strongest combat effectiveness Yoshino speed of up to 22.5 knots, but the Qing army's two giant ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan are only 14.5 knots. Friends familiar with naval warfare know the importance of displacement and speed in naval warfare, these two parameters the Japanese army are far ahead, although Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were rare supergiants in the world at that time, displacement of more than 7,000 tons may be equivalent to the size of the other two battleships, but the level of other warships is too poor and the age of the ship is long and lack of maintenance, although the number is superfluous to each other, the result has become a drag. In fact, from the later Russo-Japanese Naval Battle and the Battle of Jutland in World War I, it can be seen that the main battleships really played a role in the decisive battle between the two main fleets, and as for the number of other light battleships, there was no practical significance, and once the main battleships were suppressed and sunk by the other side, in fact, the entire naval battle situation was decided.
Two. Comparison of fleet commanders on both sides
First of all, let's take a look at the commander of the Japanese army, Ito Yuheng, who has been very interested in the Navy since he was a child, studied at the Naval Training Institute and mutsu Munemitsu and other big names are classmates, joined the Navy in the early years of Meiji, and also served as the president of the Naval University, it can be said that Ito Yuheng is a professional navy with both naval warfare theory and naval combat experience. Looking at the commander of the Beiyang Marine Division, Ding Ruchang, who followed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in his early years, later entered the Xiang Army after surrendering to the Qing Army, and later followed Li Hongzhang's Huai Army, it should be said that although Ding Ruchang lacked military knowledge to study but had rich combat experience, and this person had always fought bravely, never had the idea of surrendering in the Battle of Jiawu, and fought until the last moment to martyr the country. As a commander, Ding Ruchang's qualities of being a pioneer and being loyal to the king and patriotism are commendable, but it has to be said that Ding Ruchang himself is from the army, and the battles he participated in are still domestic peasant wars, lacking the basic knowledge and experience of modern warfare and modern navy. In fact, this can still be seen in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which cannot be said to be Ding Ruchang's fault, but can only be said to be the fault of that old era.
Three. Comparison of middle- and lower-ranking officers and soldiers
The commanders of the warships of the Japanese combined fleet and the battleships of the Beiyang Naval Division should be said to be professional naval origins, either graduated from their own naval schools or stayed in the foreign faction, and the soldiers were also veterans who had served in the fleet for many years, but there was also a big gap, first of all, the Japanese army was a new army established after the Meiji Restoration, it was the product of Japan's complete awakening after the Black Ship Incident, and the establishment of the entire combined fleet can be said to have cost more than one-fifth of Japan's wealth, and they carried the Expectations of the Japanese for overseas expansion. From the captain to the soldiers, they are disciplined and hard-working, and they are built entirely according to the modern navy. But the Beiyang Fleet is different, although it is also a product of the Foreign Affairs Movement, but the Beiyang Marine Division is more like a private armed warlord force of Li Hongzhang, although the training of soldiers at the beginning is ok, but after a long time, the country is not willing to invest money in training, it is slack, and even there is a situation of training with empty packages, and many soldiers have gradually become the virtues of those veterans of the Green Camp, eating, drinking and gambling. As for the captain, the most criticized person is Fang Boqian, who has countless real estate in his family, is greedy for life and fears death during the war, was the first to escape in the Battle of Jiawu, and accidentally sank his own battleship. It can be said that in terms of the quality of the troops, the Japanese combined fleet is a truly modern navy, while the Beiyang Marine Division is just an old warlord force with new equipment.
Four. Comparison of internal relationships
Japan was united from the beginning of the war to the end of the war, from the emperor to the ordinary people in order to raise military funds for the navy tightened their belts, it can be said that from top to bottom 100% support for the navy's actions. Although at the beginning the imperial court would allocate a certain amount of silver every year to buy warships and maintain them later, but after a long time, the conservative faction led by Weng Tonghe believed that Li Hongzhang wanted so much money to build a navy from the imperial court every year and did not go to war, so it was not good to build a private armed force for itself, so later the imperial court greatly reduced military expenditure, which directly led to the Beiyang Marine Division not buying a new ship for 10 years, and even basic training, maintenance and ammunition could not be guaranteed. Before the Battle of Jiawu began, these people jumped out and said that li hongzhang had to fight for a while, and in fact, Li Hongzhang at that time knew very well that the strength of his Beiyang Marine Division was inferior to that of the Japanese combined fleet, and if he went out to fight a decisive battle, it would inevitably be the total annihilation of the army. Speaking of the other units at that time, in fact, this naval battle was said to be a naval decisive battle between Japan and the Qing Dynasty, and in fact it was a decisive battle between Japan and the Beiyang Marine Division. At that time, in addition to the Beiyang Water Division, the Qing Dynasty also had the Nanyang Water Division, the Fujian Water Division and the Guangdong Water Division. Although the strength of these marine divisions is very weak, many warships are still old-fashioned wooden boats, even if they go to war, they may not play any role, but the real problem is that these marine divisions are established by local warlords such as Zhang Zhidong and Zuo Zongtang, to put it bluntly, that is, warlord armed forces, it is not surprising that the strength is not saved. It can be said that the internal environment faced by the Beiyang Marine Division and Li Hongzhang at that time can be said to be embattled, and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army and Beiyang Marine Division suffered a devastating blow in the First Sino-Japanese War, and he himself lost his use value and was abandoned by the imperial court. In general, the Beiyang Marine Division is a victim of these internal struggles, and before it can be fought, it is almost consumed by its own internal friction, and there is a reason for being invincible.
Today, more than a hundred years later, when we look back at this war, it can be said that from various aspects, the Beiyang Naval Division is at a disadvantage, and there is no such thing as a weak victory over the strong; putting aside the influence of objective factors such as the Japanese's adequate combat readiness, accurate intelligence, and luck, it is estimated that even if the Beiyang Naval Division at that time was fully prepared to have a hard-fought decisive battle at sea and instead of an encounter, the probability of victory of the Beiyang Naval Division was still very low.