Ching Ch'ing composite cruiser

The Ching Ch'ing was one of five fast un-armoured cruisers built for the Chinese Nanyang fleet, based at Shanghai. Like the first of the type, the Kai Che, she was built at Foochow, and was a composite construction, fully masted cruiser, with iron frames and a wooden hull. The iron work was ordered from Germany.

The Kai Che had been armed with Krupp guns. The Ching Ch'ing and her sister ship Huan T'ai used Armstrong breach-loading guns instead, replacing the two 8in guns of the Kai Che with three 7in guns. Two of the 7in guns were carried in sponsons mounted just in front of the funnel and the third was on the poop deck. These were probably Armstrong coastal defence guns that had weren't originally designed for use onboard ship. They also carried four 4.7in BL guns on the broadside, two in aft sponsons and one in the bow, and two 14in Whitehead torpedo tubes, carried amidships.

The Ching Ch'ing was launched in January 1886 and underwent trials on 11 August, with two British naval officers as observers. After that she joined the Nanyang squadron.

In the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 the Ching Ch'ing had her 7in guns replaced with two 6in quick firing guns in the sponsons and one 4.7in quick firing gun on the poop deck. She was also part of the Chinese squadron that re-occupied Port Arthur after it was returned to China as a result of international pressure.

By 1902, when the Viceroy of the Nanyang fleet ordered a sell-off of outdated ships, the Ching Ch'ing was in use as a training ship.

In 1911 the Manchu regime was overthrown by a Nationalist revolt. Most of the navy soon sided with the rebels, and the Ching Ch'ing was part of a large group of ships moored upstream of Shanghai that rebelled in mid November.

The Ching Ch'ing was finally sold off after the formation of the National Government of China at Nanking in October 1928.

Alternative names

King Ch'ing

Displacement

2,100t

Top Speed

15-17kts

Length

250ft

Width

36ft

Armament as built

Three 7in Armstrong BL guns
Seven 40pdr BL gns
Two torpedo tubes

Crew complement

200-300

Laid down

4 January 1884

Launched

17 January 1886

Completed

August 1886

Sold off

1928

How to cite this article: Rickard, J (19 July 2013), Ching Ch'ing composite cruiser , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_ching_ching.html

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