The history of the super brave

As early as the beginning of the preparation of the navy, the Qing court had a plan to buy armored ships, but because of the shortage of funds, the discussion was uneven. "There was no result in five or six years." Several mosquito boats bought from England in advance can only be used as floating batteries, but they can't hit the ocean at all. On the other hand, Japan, an island country in the East China Sea, relies on several modern warships to repeatedly cause troubles on issues such as North Korea, Ryukyu and Taiwan Province Province. Faced with this grim situation, China is in urgent need of a warship that can shock the Japanese navy, so the discussion of purchasing armored ships, which has been shelved for many years, has risen again. Shen Baozhen, one of the founders of China's modern navy, was very enthusiastic about buying armored ships, and even put forward the requirement of buying armored ships quickly before he died, and complained to Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of the matter at that time, because armored ships could not be bought back as soon as possible. However, Li Hongzhang is also in an awkward position of cooking without rice. The allocated naval funds are not in place, and everything can only be empty talk.

At this moment, Li Lai, the ambassador to Germany, wrote a letter saying that "all countries are discussing to stop the construction of armored ships recently, so we might as well postpone it", and that if we want to buy armored ships, we must make preparations in advance in four aspects, namely, docks, forts, mines and clippers, among which the role of clippers is particularly important. "If the armored ship has no clipper assistance, you will be desperate." With China's existing naval funds, it is really impossible to buy real armour, but it is more than enough to buy a few clippers, so Li Hongzhang discussed with Hurd, the Customs and Taxation Department, and Hurd also agreed with Li Hongzhang that "buy real clippers first, and then do real armour".

Prior to this,1on June 5, 879, James Duncan Campbell, the tax department of China Customs in London, introduced to Hurd in detail an armored cruiser newly designed by Randall, the designer of Armstrong Company: "speed 16 nautical miles, displacement 1350 tons, draft 15 feet. This machine is covered by an underwater deck and uses coal. Equipped with two new 25-ton breech guns, which can penetrate any armored ship at sea, one is installed at the bow and the other at the stern, both of which rotate around the fulcrum and can shoot at the front and side targets. In addition, there are small artillery and torpedo devices ",and said that this kind of warship" will be proved to be superior to other cruisers ",which plays an important supplementary role to the mosquito boats already purchased by China. Hurd strongly recommended this kind of warship to Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang is very interested in this kind of clipper and collision which costs only 90,000 pounds and can "catch up with excellent armored ships". After reading the detailed drawings and consulting the opinions of the French naval officers in China, he made a final decision on February 9, 65438, and entrusted Hurd to order two ships from Armstrong. The order date was 16544.

Entrusted by Li Hongzhang, Hurd, who has always been known for his shrewdness, believes that the success of this project will affect the future arms trade with China and Britain's control over China's navy in the foreseeable future. So he wrote a letter to James Duncan Campbell, who handled this matter in Britain, stressing that the standard speed of warships in calm waters must exceed 15 knots, and told James Duncan Campbell that Li Hongzhang had a strong interest in torpedo boats and hoped that the speed of shipborne torpedo boats must reach 17- 18 knots. James Duncan Campbell did not dare to neglect after receiving the letter, and immediately signed a contract with Armstrong.

Armstrong Company divided the project after receiving this order from China. Armstrong Company undertook the design and manufacture of its old line gun, and the hull was subcontracted to Mitchell Shipyard for construction. In this way, the first batch of modern cruisers from China began to be put into production in Britain. At that time, there was also a cruiser of the same class ordered by the Chilean navy, which was later resold to Japan.

In the process of warship construction, Hurd and James Duncan Campbell did their best. Hurd was very upset when he heard that the hull would be produced in an unknown shipyard. He inquired about the production scale, technical ability and shipbuilding history of Mitchell factory in great detail, and repeatedly told James Duncan Campbell that the hull must be strong, hoping to build two "first-class" warships. The two also wrote back to the merchants on the design of warships many times. For example, because the original torpedo boat was too big and too heavy, it would affect the layout and speed of warships, so they negotiated with the factory and the shipowner Li Hongzhang and changed it into two light motorboats that could throw rods. At the suggestion of James Duncan Campbell, Hurd's proposal to install a fixed muzzle was also changed to an advanced rotatable breech gun.

The whole construction process lasted nearly one year. The first cruiser was launched in June 1880 10 14, and soon after, the second cruiser was launched. At that time, the second ships were called "iauta" and "Kapa" respectively in Britain. In the same year, 65438+ February 27th was named "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" by Li Hongzhang.

As the construction of two warships draws to a close, China is also preparing for the upcoming cruiser. 1880, 10 On June 7, Li Hongzhang asked the Qing court to select four officials and 306 water brave from the original training brave who would buy ships in the future, and hand them over to Ding Heyang Grayson for training to form a ship receiving force in Britain. On February 23rd, 1880, 1880, Ding, Grayson, Ma Yuzao and Xie, medical officer Jiang Yong took a French ship to Britain to receive warships, and Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang, Lan Jianshu, Li He, Yang Yonglin and Zhang Sidun led the receiving troops. On the 27th, the merchant ship "Haichen" was refitted by China Merchants.

After arriving in Britain in advance, Ding and his party visited Armstrong Company in Newcastle, and personally supervised the artillery tests of the ships Chaoyong and Yangwei. He went to London for a series of diplomatic activities and was received by the Queen of England. On April 22nd, 188 1, accompanied by James Duncan Campbell, visited the British Admiralty, held talks with British Navy Prefect Kay Goubel, Chief Engineer of Admiralty Stuart and warship designer Barnabe, and visited the models and drawings of the latest British warships. This is the first historic exchange between senior naval officials of China and Britain. That evening, Haichen, full of China crew, arrived in London, England. The first time I saw young sailors and ships flying dragon flags in ancient China, it caused a sensation throughout Britain.

Two days later, at noon on April 24, the officers and men who received the ship arrived in Newcastle and began to receive intense training on the island opposite Armstrong Company. These strange sailors from far away China left a deep impression on the British Navy. From hearing that China was going to send sailors, he was worried and uneasy about the quality of sailors, to seeing the performance of sailors in China, Hurd praised that "if the quality of the ship is good, China sailors can sail as safely as British sailors", and the China navy made its debut on the world stage.

On July 4th and 5th, 188 1, under the official supervision of China, Chaoyong and Yangwei tested their speed and weapons again, and the speed reached 16 knots, which met the design requirements. Due to the tension between China and Japan, Li Hongzhang, who was far away from Beijing, was extremely angry at the inefficient work of the British side because he was "super brave" and "Yang Wei" who should have delivered the ship in April and May. Hurd also sent a telegram asking James Duncan Campbell if the cruiser would never sail. Under the urging of many parties, before July 27th, Chaoyong and Yangwei carried out the last overhaul in the mother factory, and then China sailors boarded the second ship to receive them on August 2nd.

In the early morning of August 3rd, China's ambassador to Britain, Ceng Jize, arrived in Newcastle by train from London, accompanied by the director of international students in Newcastle, Riyige. At 2 pm that day, Ceng Jize personally raised the Dragon Flag to the masts of Chaoyong and Yangwei, and the two ships saluted. This is the first time that the dragon flag flies in Britain. Stuart, chief engineer of British Admiralty, employees of Armstrong Company, their families and nearby residents met the ship with China officers and men. On the same day, the mayor of Newcastle sent a message of condolence to Ding, and the city Council unanimously passed the congratulatory message to Ding.

After a series of preparations, on August 9th, the whistles of "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" sounded, bid farewell to their birthplace, and "left Newcastle with the good wishes of local residents". After the second ship, they made a short stop at Plymouth military port, waiting to welcome Ding and his party to London for a farewell visit. On the morning of August 17, Ding left Plymouth for the ocean with the ships "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei". On the 22nd, they entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. After that, the two ships separated. Chaoyong arrived in Port Said on August 3 1, while Yangwei drifted at sea for two days and two nights because of running out of coal, and went through hardships to arrive in Port Said on September 5. On September 10, when the second ship sailed out of the Suez Canal, the propeller of "Yangwei" was damaged by rocks. After intensive emergency repair, it left Suez on September 14, arrived in Galle on June 10, and arrived in Singapore on October 8 10. Consul Zuo Zixing of China boarded the ship to visit and express condolences. After that, it entered the South China Sea, and1October1May arrived in Hongkong to help China fishermen on the way. The voyages of "Chaoyong" and "Yang Wei" passed by countries "all fired their guns to congratulate, thinking that Longqi had sailed overseas for the first time". Overseas Chinese along the way rushed to watch the motherland's navy at the seaside, calling it "unprecedented glory." Although the voyage was full of twists and turns, as the first step for China Navy to go global, this page will be engraved in the history of China Navy forever.

The second ship arrived at Guangzhou Waijiangkou on 18 after a short replenishment in Hong Kong, and Zhang Shusheng, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, personally led civil and military officials to board the ship to express their condolences. 188 1 year165438+1On October 22nd, he arrived at Dagukou with "super courage" and "great prestige" and joined the Beiyang Navy under construction. Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, personally went to Dagukou to board the ship for inspection and acceptance, and went to Lushun to inspect the port and plan the construction of Lushun Fort. The Qing court appointed Lin Taizeng and Deng Shichang as the management zone of the Second Ship in recognition of the meritorious personnel of the docking ship.

The addition of two modern cruisers, "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei", has brought the Beiyang Navy to a new level. Before the second ship returned to China, except for a few warships such as Wu Yang, most of the warships owned by China were military and civilian gunboats and some mosquito ships, and their combat effectiveness was quite limited. Although there are some defects, the "Tide" and "Yang" warships are comparable to similar warships of western powers at that time in design and armament level. Therefore, before the "Zhi, Jing, Jing and Lai" returned to China, "Chao" and "Yang" were the main warships of Beiyang Navy and were active in various political and diplomatic events.