After the Zhiyuan ship sank, the "Jingyuan" ship that followed the Zhiyuan ship continued to fight against the "Yoshino", and was also hit by bullets and caught fire. Supervisor Lin Yongsheng and first officer Chen Ce were killed. Later, the ship was also sunk, with more than 250 people killed.
An officer and soldier died.
"Jiyuan" led Fang Boqian, and "Guangjia" led Wu Jingrong. They were greedy for life and feared death, so they escaped from the battle. "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" withdrew from the battle because they were hit by too many bullets and evacuated to the vicinity of Dalu Island to urgently repair the damaged machines.
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By this time, the Beiyang Fleet had been severely damaged. Except for the two ironclad ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, which were still fighting hard, the other warships had suffered varying degrees of damage or had withdrawn from the battle, had been sunk, or had escaped from the battle.
When the Northern Cruise Fleet was severely damaged, the two armored ships were like two warriors on war horses, rushing left and right under the siege of the Japanese fleet, as if they were in an uninhabited land.
The two ships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" stubbornly resisted the siege of the Japanese fleet. Although they were hit by many bullets and caught fire several times, all officers and soldiers still persisted in fighting and severely damaged the enemy's flagship "Songdao", killing and injuring the fort commander.
There are more than 100 people below the rank of Captain Kiyoshi Shima of the Imperial Navy.
More than a dozen Japanese warships surrounded the two ironclads Dingyuan and Zhenyuan and bombarded them non-stop. Although their two ironclads were hit by nearly 200 bullets, the two ironclads remained motionless, making the Japanese commander feel that these two ironclads were incompetent.
sunk.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about the defense of the two ironclads Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. Their protection form adopts a central ironclad. The length of the ironclad is 43.5 meters, the thickness of the ironclad is 305~355 mm, and the bow and stern parts are horizontal.
The armored deck is 76 mm thick, the main turret wall of the 305 mm gun is 305 mm thick, and the protective armor of the armored command tower is 8 inches thick.
Although the Japanese cruisers are fast, the small-caliber artillery they are equipped with cannot do anything against the ultra-thick armor of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships.
The "Jingyuan" and "Laiyuan" ships temporarily withdrew from the battle because they were hit by too many bullets. After repairing the damaged machinery near Dalu Island, they rejoined the battle. The "Zhenyuan" ship's thirty-centimeter cannon hit the Japanese in succession.
The flagship "Songdao" was hit twice. After the No. 4 turret on the deck of the "Songdao" was hit, explosives were triggered and a big explosion occurred. The ship's axis tilted five degrees, a fire broke out and the ship was severely damaged.
In addition to the "Matsushima", the Japanese Combined Fleet's "Hiei", "Yoshino", "Akagi", "Saikyo Maru", "Fuso" and other ships also suffered heavy damage. Fleet commander Ito Yuhiro saw that the Beiyang Fleet had another
After regrouping, it was getting dark. At the same time, he also became afraid of the two ironclad ships of the Beiyang Fleet. He was afraid that if he continued to fight, would the Japanese combined fleet suffer more losses? So he ordered the Japanese fleet to withdraw around 5:30 in the afternoon.
battlefield.
Can it be said that the two sides in this battle are evenly matched? The Beiyang Navy is not at an absolute disadvantage.
The result of this naval battle? The Beiyang Navy fleet lost five warships: Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei, and Guangjia. Among them, the Guangjia escaped from the battlefield and ran aground. It self-destructed a few days later; more than a thousand officers and soldiers were killed and injured.
.The five ships of the Japanese fleet, Matsushima, Yoshino, Hiei, Akagi, and Saikyo Maru, were also severely damaged. More than 600 soldiers were killed or injured.
Because Beiyang's Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships can continue fighting as long as they take a short rest? Calculated in this way, Japan is still at a disadvantage in terms of battleships.
After the Beiyang Navy trudged back to Weihaiwei, dragging thick black smoke, news of the war spread to both the government and the public in the Qing Dynasty.
After Li Hongzhang got the news, he almost spit out blood. The Beiyang Navy, which he had worked hard for decades, suffered such serious losses.
By now, the Beiyang Navy may not be able to withstand a battle, because almost all the warships are now injured.
In this case, there are only two ways to restore combat effectiveness. The first is to repair the ship immediately.
But although there are some small shipyards in Beiyang, compared to the tonnage of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships, these shipyards are not enough to repair such a large ironclad ship.
Fortunately, Li Hongzhang had already heard that Liu Hai's Shanghai shipyard could repair such a huge warship, so he sent a telegram to Liu Hai that day, requesting that the Beiyang Navy go south for maintenance.
Liu Hai agreed immediately after receiving the telegram. Although he was not prepared to start a war immediately, it would be good for Liu Hai to strengthen Beiyang's strength and let them and Japan spend a while.
Neither Liu Hai nor Li Hongzhang expected that their idea would be immediately opposed by many ministers in the court.
The reasons for their objections are also perfect. Although the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships are now injured, their injuries are not serious due to their strong armor. If these two warships leave their base in Beiyang, then Beijing will be out of danger.
If it can be defended, the Japanese navy can smoothly enter Tianjin from the Bohai Sea and then threaten Kyoto.
After Li Hongzhang received the order from the imperial court that the Beiyang Navy should not act rashly, he became a little discouraged, so he didn't care about anything else. Although the Beiyang Navy was still capable of fighting against the Japanese navy, Li Hongzhang was not worried when he saw the imperial court.
What am I worried about? I might as well save my strength.
In order to preserve his strength, Li Hongzhang ordered the fleet to withdraw to Weihai Port and was not allowed to patrol the sea to meet the enemy. From then on, Japan seized control of the Yellow Sea.
By this time, Li Hongzhang had almost been beaten by the Japanese and was unable to resist.
But Li Hongzhang still wanted to give it another try, so he submitted a memorial to the court, requesting the Nanyang Navy to go north and work with the Beiyang Navy to protect the waters near Tianjin and ensure that the Japanese could not log in in these places.
Li Hongzhang's suggestion was timely for those men in the court who were afraid of death, so more and more memorials were sent to Emperor Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi, all of whom agreed with Li Hongzhang's suggestion and asked the Nanyang Navy to go north.
Emperor Guangxu still wanted to agree to Li Hongzhang's suggestion. During this period, Beiyang suffered a series of defeats, and now Emperor Guangxu regretted it.
As a result, when everyone in the imperial court agreed that the Nanyang Navy should go north, a telegram broke the calm.
It turned out that Liu Hai, the governor of Liangjiang, submitted a memorial to the imperial court, stating that the southeastern provinces were important areas of wealth and that the Japanese were always aware that the former enemies and sources of salary were both of concern to the overall situation, and requested not to send the warships of the Nanyang Navy northwards.
Liu Hai's memorial made the civil and military officials of the imperial court hesitate, because these people have business in Jiangnan. If Jiangnan is disrupted, it will cause great harm to their interests, so this court meeting will not be held.
Forget it.
Li Hongzhang waited in Tianjin for a long time, but did not wait for a reply from the court. Now he was a little anxious. Now the Beiyang Navy was holed up in Tianjin Guards and could not go south to rest, but the Japanese had shipyards that could quickly restore their strength.
, if the Nanyang Navy is not allowed to move northward, the Beiyang Navy will probably be doomed. So he submitted a memorial for the second time, urging the court to dispatch the Nanyang Navy to go northward.
As a result, the second memorial was stopped by an important official of the imperial court. This person was none other than Zhang Zhidong, the minister of Liang Nanyang.
It turned out that after Liu Hai served as the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanchen, although the Empress Dowager Cixi said that Liu Hai could not be deprived of his military power, she also feared that Liu Hai was too powerful, so she introduced Zhang Zhidong to divide Liu Hai's power, hoping that Zhang Zhidong would Depriving Liu Hai of his control over the Nanyang Navy, the position of Minister of Nanyang was taken off Liu Hai's head and placed on Zhang Zhidong's head.
Zhang Zhidong is now the governor of Huguang. He is in Hubei. How can he control the Nanyang Navy? Therefore, Liu Hai did not resist this order and left it to you.
Although Liu Hai did not interfere with Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Zhidong believed that he was the Minister of Nanyang and had an unshirkable responsibility for the Nanyang Navy.
So this time when he heard again that Li Hongzhang wanted to kill the Nanyang Navy, he immediately refuted him.
Zhang Zhidong's reason is that the strength of the Nanyang Navy is almost the same as that of the Beiyang Navy. There is even one less Beiyang Navy in the armored ships. If they go north to stalemate with the Japanese, they may not be able to match them. In the end, they will gain more victory for the Japanese. It's better to just defend the south and maintain its financial and tax power, and not let the Japanese harass us.
After Li Hongzhang received the news of Zhang Zhidong's memorial, he was so angry that his beard stood up. Isn't this war between the Qing Dynasty and Japan? How come I, Li Hongzhang, am the only one who is fighting against Japan? Since you are not in a hurry , What am I anxious about, so Li Hongzhang no longer cares about matters on the sea. He concentrates all his energy on the land battle, hoping to stop the Japanese advance on land.
Although Li Hongzhang was no longer in charge of the maritime affairs, Zhang Zhidong, as the Minister of Nanyang, was not idle. He sent his important staff to contact Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and other countries to discuss the purchase of warships.
However, these are far away water that cannot quench the near thirst. At this moment, a South American country gave Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong a little hope, allowing them to see the opportunity to revive Beiyang.
It turned out that before the war started, Li Hongzhang had tried to pass on news to Chile and wanted to purchase several Chilean warships.
Chile did not refuse the Qing's request and directly presented several warships to Li Hongzhang.
The several major warships "on the shelf" in Chile all have good performance.
The "Brad" is a 7,000-ton first-class ironclad ship equipped with four 239mm main guns, and the overall layout takes into account the balance of firepower. Although the firepower is not as powerful as the second ship of the Beiyang Navy "Dingzhen", its speed is significantly faster .
The large dome-armored cruiser "Shirogu Encalada" is also well received. This warship has a displacement of 4,568 tons and a speed of more than 22 knots. Its comprehensive performance indicators are very similar to those of the Japanese Navy's "Yoshino", and its protection capabilities are even better. Better than the latter.
In addition, the other ships that Chile is expected to sell are generally in better condition than those of the Beiyang Navy.
If this deal can be reached, the Beiyang Navy can immediately regain its strength and return to sea to compete with the Japanese Combined Fleet for sea control, even surpassing the Japanese Navy in terms of tonnage.