Hǎi Qí-class cruiser

Chinese cruiser Hǎi Qí
Class overview
Name: Hǎi Qí class
Builders: Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
Operators:
Preceded by: Hǎi Róng class
Succeeded by: Zhào Hé class
Cost: £336,659
Built: 1896–1899
In commission: 1899–1937
Completed: 2
Lost: 1
Retired: 1
General characteristics
Type: Protected cruiser
Displacement:
  • 4,300 tons (standard)
  • 4,515 t (full load)
Length: 129.2 m (423 ft 11 in) o/a
Beam: 14.2 m (46 ft 7 in)
Draught: 5.45 m (17 ft 11 in)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 4 Hawthorn Leslie VTE engines, 12-cylindrical boilers, 17,000 bhp (12,700 kW)
Speed: 24.15 knots (27.79 mph; 44.73 km/h)
Range: 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 'economical speed'
Complement: 400
Armament:
Armour:

The Hǎi Qí-class (Chinese: 海圻; Wade–Giles: Hai Chi; literally: "Sea Boundary") was a class of two protected cruisers built for the Qing Dynasty from 1899–1899. The Hǎi Qí was ordered shortly after the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War from the United Kingdom to replace the catastrophic losses of the Beiyang Fleet. The Hǎi Qí-class would remain one of the largest ships commissioned by China until the Cold War. The Hǎi Qí-class would go on to serve in the Republic of China Navy through the National Protection War, World War I, the Second Zhili–Fengtian War, and the Northern Expedition.

Design and development

With the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Manchu Qing dynasty which had ruled China for over two hundred years was left broken. Her newly built, costly navy, the Beiyang Fleet, had been annihilated and her armies decimated by the more modern Imperial Japanese Army. With the weakness of China's military abilities exposed, foreign powers renewed attempts to carve up China with unequal treaties. In a few short years after the war, several such treaties were signed with the Qing government. In 1896 the Li–Lobanov Treaty was signed with the Russian Empire effectively ceding sovereignty over Northeast China to Russia. In 1898 the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory was signed with the United Kingdom, leasing the territory for 99 years. A similar unequal treaty with the German Empire was signed in the same year for a 99-year lease of Jiaozhou. The following year Guangzhouwan was leased to France. With more Western powers looking for territorial concessions, The Qing government announced an ambitious plan to rebuild China's navy in May 1896 with western built ships. The Marquis of Suyi, Li Hongzhang, was appointed to head the mission. Li, a veteran diplomat of the Qing was sent as China's special envoy to the coronation of Nicholas II of Russia, where he concluded the aforementioned unequal treaty bearing his name with Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky. From Moscow, Li toured through Europe, visiting Germany, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom by August 1896 to solicit orders for warships. Li then crossed the Atlantic to the United States to advocate for the reform of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Due to continued financial problems created by the wake of the Sino-Japanese War, a modest order of three protected cruisers from Vulcan, two protected cruisers from Armstrong Whitworth and four destroyers from Schichau were ordered, rather than the battleships originally envisioned.[1]

The two cruisers from, Armstrong Whitworth would be named Hǎi Qí (Chinese: 海圻; Wade–Giles: Hai Chi; literally: "Sea Boundary"), the lead ship and Hǎi Tiān (Chinese: 海天; Wade–Giles: Hai Tien; literally: "Heavenly Sea") and ordered July 1896. Hǎi Qí would be laid down 11 November 1896, launched 24 January 1989 and commissioned 10 May 1899. Her sister ship, Hǎi Tiān, although laid down nearly three months earlier on 16 February 1897 and launched 25 November 1897, would be commissioned commissioned earlier, on 28 March 1899. The Hǎi Qí-class design was based on the Argentinean Buenos Aires protected cruiser (designed by renowned British naval architect Philip Watts) which Armstrong Whitworth had just built a year earlier. The Hǎi Qí-class had a displacement 4300 tons and a full displacement of 4515 tons. The ships' armour was made from harvey steel. The deck was protected by a 127 mm (5 in) thick, sloped, to 37 mm (1 in) mm of armour on the flat. Gun shields were 114-millimetre (4.5 in) with 102-millimetre (4.0 in) thick ammunition hoists. The conning tower was 152-millimetre (6.0 in) thick. Like the Buenos Aires, the primary battery were two single-mounted 203.2-millimetre (8.00 in)/45 calibre guns, mounted fore and aft behind shields on the ship's centreline. Unlike the Buenos Aires, which had a mixed secondary armament of 6" and 4.7" guns, the Hǎi Qí-class had a uniform calibre of ten secondary guns QF 4.7 inch Mk V naval gun. Tertiary armaments consisted of sixteen QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss. The Hǎi Qí-class was also armed with five above-water, 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes. One tube located at the bow and four more tubes mounted broadside, just aft of the mast. Propulsion was provided by four Hawthorn Leslie vertical triple expansion engines, powered by twelve cylindrical boilers which consisted of four double-ended and four single-ended types. Capable of carrying 1000 tons of coal, range was listed as 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at an 'economical speed'. During sea trials, Hǎi Tiān was rated at 22.6 knots (26.0 mph; 41.9 km/h) at natural draught but was capable of up to 24.15 knots (27.79 mph; 44.73 km/h) at forced draught. Hǎi Tiān set sail for China on 22 May 1899 with a British contract crew, followed three weeks later by Hǎi Qí and by August both cruisers had reached China where they joined the reconstituted Beiyang Fleet at Dàgū. Upon arrival, Hǎi Qí was assigned as the flagship of Commodore Sa Zhenbing.[2]

Ships

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hǎi Qí-class cruiser.
Name Builder Laid Launched Completed Fate
Hǎi Qí
(海圻) 		Armstrong Whitworth 11 November 1896 24 January 1898 10 May 1899 Scuttled at Jiangyin on 11 August 1937 as a blockship.
Hǎi Tiān
(海天) 		Armstrong Whitworth 16 February 1897 25 November 1897 28 March 1899 Foundered 25 April 1904 after hitting a rock in Hangzhou Bay.

Notes

  1. ↑ Wright, Richard N J (2000). The Chinese Steam Navy: 1862-1945 (First ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. pp. 110–114. ISBN 1861761449.
  2. ↑ Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 (First American ed.). New York: Mayflower Books. p. 397. ISBN 0831703024.
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