In the 19th century, the Navy family had a special member, called the "Mosquito Ship", also known as the Randall Gunship. This gunboat rose rapidly in the 1870s, but fell rapidly in the 1890s and withdrew from the navy stage.

In the 19th century, the Navy family had a special member, called the "Mosquito Ship", also known as the Randall Gunship. This gunboat rose rapidly in the 1870s, but fell rapidly in the 1890s and withdrew from the navy stage. Under the rule of the Qing government at that time, China caught up with this wave, so China has become one of the countries equipped with a large number of "mosquito ships", and they have also formed a unique landscape of the modern Chinese navy.

Mosquito Ship

The birth time of the "Mosquito Ship" was about to go back to the 1860s, when Britain already had the most powerful navy in the world, but with the expansion of the colonial empire, the issue of colonial security became something Britain had to think about. For the British government, if a large number of ironclad ships and cruisers are built to protect the security of the colony, the financial burden will be huge. However, if there is no corresponding force, once the enemy fleet comes to attack, the colony will fall. Therefore, under the premise of this safety requirement, the "mosquito ship" was born.

"Mosquito Ship"

In Armstrong Company, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, an arsenal dedicated to building warships and weapons. Because of the frequent test of artillery and explosives, residents near the arsenal were unbearable and often complained to the local government for the company. In order not to disturb the people, Armstrong had to put the artillery on a barge and drag it to sea for testing. This helpless approach inspired George Randall, an engineer in their company at that time. He decided to design a small gunboat specially equipped with heavy artillery as a "water turret".

George Randall

Finally, with his efforts, the Navy family welcomed the member of the "Mosquito Ship". In December 1867, a mosquito ship named "First" was launched. The ship's displacement html is 5,200 tons, 75 feet (22.8 meters) long, 25 feet (7.6 meters) wide, 6 feet (1.8 meters) draft, The speed is 7 knots and is equipped with a 9-inch (229 mm) caliber Armstrong bore gun. The artillery cannot rotate during combat and the entire ship needs to be adjusted. Therefore, the ship's handling performance is very good. It can rotate for one week within 2 minutes and 15 seconds. At the same time, considering that the ship does not need to go to sea to fight, all sailing devices were abolished and navigation was only powered by the engine. After the "First" was launched, it immediately attracted reports from the British media at that time. The famous "Engineer" magazine believed that the "First" was designed very well and effectively solved the problem of airworthiness, the small hull and the large artillery. contradiction. The ship was recommended to the British Admiralty soon after, and after evaluation, the Navy believed that the ship's size was very suitable for offshore defense, and its large-caliber artillery could threaten ironclad ships and cruisers, especially the cost was cheap and could be large-scale. Equipment (Later, based on Crimea's naval combat experience, the Admiralty also formulated a tactic to use large warships to cover "mosquito ships" to make breakthroughs on nearshore or shallow rivers. Moreover, the Admiralty believes that "mosquito ships" are small in size and are not easy to become large. The goal of the warship is a weapon that is very convenient to hide and powerful). Soon the British Navy began to purchase "mosquito ships" on a large scale. From 1870 to 1879, the British Navy purchased 24 "Ant"-class "mosquito ships", and this class "mosquito ship" was also a final work of this family. . With the service of the "Mosquito Ship" in the British Navy, countries around the world have also begun to equip this powerful shore defense tool, and China has also formed a relationship with the "Mosquito Ship" at this time.

"Fusheng" and "Jiansheng

The earliest "mosquito ship" imported by China was the "Fusheng" class ordered by the Fujian Coast Defense Aftermath Administration of Fujian Province through Ruisheng Foreign Business from the British Laird Company. It was the 1874 Taiwan Peony Society incident. Afterwards, the Qing government decided to strengthen coastal defense construction, and coastal provinces responded to the central government's call to purchase warships to strengthen coastal defense (because the rumors that "mosquito ships" in China at that time were able to restrain ironclad ships and were cheap, many provinces decided to buy "mosquito ships". ” to enrich the sea defense).In 1875, the "Fusheng" class arrived in Fujian. The warships of this class were 256 tons of water displacement, 26.5 meters long, 7.9 meters wide, 2.5 meters draft, and equipped with a 10-inch (254 mm) caliber bore gun. In order to facilitate long-distance voyage, this class of "Mosquito Ship" also added sailing devices. When the "Fusheng" class came to Fujian, it was first deployed in the Mawei Waters of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau for defense tasks. Later, in order to facilitate action and command, this class of It was directly assigned to the command of the Fujian Shipbuilding Navy and became the only "mosquito ship" in the Shipbuilding Fleet.

"Fusheng"

1884 Naval Battle broke out. The two "Fusheng" class "Mosquito ships" and "Fuxing" gunboats formed a team to fight the French fleet. The last three warships were sunk. , died heroically.

"Longxiang" and "Fei Ting" levels

While purchasing "Fusheng" levels in Fujian, Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang through the China General Taxation Department Hurd contacted Jin Denggan, Director of the Chinese Office in the UK, to help order from the UK. A batch of "mosquito ships", which were later "Dragon Horse" and "Flying Ting" levels. After the Mudanshe incident, in order to cope with the threat of the Japanese Navy's second-class ironclad ship, Li Hongzhang had inquired from many parties that hoped to buy the same second-class ironclad ship to fight against it. However, since the countries did not have second-class ironclad ships under construction at that time, the price of purchasing the ironclad ships that had already been in service. It was too high, so Li Hongzhang chose this "mosquito ship" with small boats carrying cannons. Although the Qing court was threatened by Japan at that time to launch a major proposal for coastal defense, the arguments drawn by the court were basically to consolidate coastal artillery and offshore defense, which was equivalent to continuing the strategy of the "Yellow Water Navy". After multi-party negotiations, Li Hongzhang finally signed a contract with Armstrong Company. In September 1875, the "Longxiang" class officially started construction, and in February and April 1876, two "mosquito ships" were officially completed and launched. This class of "mosquito boats" have a total of 2 ships, with a displacement of 320 tons, a length of 35.9 meters, a width of 8.23 ​​meters, a draft of 2.3 meters, a speed of 10 knots, and an equipment of 11-inch (279 mm) Armstrong bore gun, 3-inch (76 mm) 2 caliber guns, 1 11 mm caliber 10 tube Green machine gun. Since they were not named in Chinese before returning to China, Jindenggan temporarily named them "Alpha" and "Beta" using Greek letters, so they are also called "alphabets" overseas. Soon after, the two sides finalized the "Feing Ting" class contract. In December 1875, the "Feing Ting" class also started construction. In June and July 1876, the construction of this class was completed and launched. The "Feing" class displacement is 420 tons, 36.6 meters long, 9.14 meters wide, 2.4 meters draft, and 9 knots speed. Equipped with 1 12.5-inch (about 318 mm) caliber Armstrong bore gun, 2 2 2.75-inch (about 70 mm) caliber gun, and 1 11 mm caliber 10-tube Green machine gun.

"Feing"

also used letters before returning to China, namely: "Gamma" and "Daierta". After returning to China, it was named "Feing" and "CeDian" and "CeDian" Number. These four "mosquito ships" became the most important warships in the early stage of the construction of the Beiyang fleet. At the same time, after investigation, officials from various provinces in China believed that the "mosquito ship" was indeed a powerful tool to keep their mouths in hand, and even scoffed at the "mosquito ship" at that time. The Minister of South China Sea Shen Baozhen and the Minister of South China Sea 5 decided to buy a "mosquito boat" for Nanyang Navy , which opened another story.

"Zhendong" level

In 1878, Shen Baozhen, then Minister of South China, also decided to purchase "mosquito ships" from the UK (and at that time, Japan ordered "Fusang", "Birui" and "King Kong" in the UK in one go. The second-class ironclad ship greatly stimulated the officials of the Chinese coastal defense faction at that time), and Li Hongzhang, who was also an ally of the navy at that time, was the handler (in the grand proposal of the coastal defense, both of them were the coastal defense faction who strongly supported the construction of the navy, and even Shen Baozhen also gave up the budget of the Nanyang Navy to help Li Hongzhang build the Beiyang Navy) help the Nanyang Navy to purchase it, but the result made Shen and Li almost turn against each other. When Li Hongzhang received Shen Baozhen's request, he immediately contacted Jin Denggan and asked him to order a "mosquito boat" from Armslang Shipyard again. At the same time, Li Hongzhang also made a request, hoping that this "mosquito boat" would be better than the previous four ships. More powerful and airworthy.After receiving Li Hongzhang's request, Kim Denggan immediately negotiated with Randall, and finally Randall proposed an improved version, which was later the "Tiandong" level. The "Zhendong" class displacement is 430 tons, 38 meters long, 8.84 meters wide, 2.9 meters draft, 10 knots speed, 11-inch (about 280 mm) bore gun, 2 76 mm caliber guns, 10 11 mm caliber guns, 10 11 mm caliber guns, 11 mm caliber guns, 10 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, 11-inch caliber guns, Guan Green's machine guns 2. A total of 4 ships were built at this level, namely "Zhendong", "Zhenxi", "Zhennan" and "Zhenbei". They were built and launched in 1878-1879 respectively. Their temporary naming of their factories in the UK was also adopted. Greek letter way.

"Zhendong" class

"Zhendong" class construction process

After returning to China in 1879, this class arrived directly to Tianjin to accept the Beiyang Fleet's reception. However, since this class warship was ordered by Li Hongzhang by Nanyang, Shen Baozhen gave Li Hongzhang the order. He was very angry, but he still generously hoped that Li Hongzhang would explain and return the ship through the letter. As a political veteran, Li Hongzhang certainly would not spit out the flesh that came into his mouth easily, but he still felt grateful to Shen Baozhen for his support and replied to the letter He explained, but before his reply had arrived at Shen Baozhen's hands, Shen Baozhen passed away on December 18, 1879 due to illness. Faced with the death of this ally of the coastal defense faction, Li Hongzhang was also very sad and decided to hand over the original "Fei Ting" and "Long Xiang" class to the Nanyang Navy. Just imagine if it weren't for Shen Baozhen's death, Shen and Li would have turned against each other for this matter. Shen Baozhen would definitely not continue to fully support the establishment of the Beiyang Navy, and China's coastal defense would inevitably undergo major changes. It is undeniable that Li Hongzhang did not do this matter indecently, but with the death of Shen Baozhen, the "Zhendong" class became the warship of the Beiyang Fleet and became the most solid force in the early days of the Northern Coastal Defense.

"Town" class

In the year after Shen Baozhen's death, that is, in 1880, in order to enrich their own coastal defense forces, Shandong Province and Guangdong Province decided to order three "mosquito ships" from Armstrong through Bahrain Company. This is what happened later "Town" level. The data of the "Town Middle" and "Town East" levels are roughly the same, with a displacement of 440 tons, a length of 38 meters, a width of 8.84 meters, a draft of 3 meters, and a speed of 10 knots. Equipped with 1 11-inch (about 280 mm) bore gun, 2 76 mm caliber guns, and 2 11 mm caliber 10-tube Green machine guns. They also used Greek letters as ship names when they were built in Britain, and they did not obtain Chinese names until they returned to China. The two ships ordered in Shandong Province were named "Zhenzhong" and "Zhenbian", while the one ordered in Guangdong was named "Haijingqing" (later the Guangdong navy imitated the ship at the Huangpu Shipyard in Guangdong according to the ship. The Mosquito Ship is called "Haidongxiong", and the parameters are basically the same as "Haijingqing").

Not long after, Li Hongzhang transferred "Town" and "Townside" into the Beiyang Fleet in the name of preparing for Beiyang coastal defense, making them part of the six "Town" gunboats. Since then, China has not ordered a "mosquito ship" from the outside.

"Jinou"

"Jinou" as a unique existence, it is called the "micro-iron armored ship". The ship was launched in 1875 and was built by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. It has a displacement of 195 tons, a length of 31.7 meters, a width of 6.2 meters, a draft of 2.06 meters, and a speed of 10 knots. Equipped with 1 170mm caliber gun.

"Jinou"

"Jinou" was nothing special, but it was an armored mosquito ship and the world's first armored mosquito ship. Some naval historians even believe that it is the ancestor of offshore defense iron armored ships. . The most important thing is the emergence of the "Jinou", which shows that Chinese naval craftsmen at that time all had very rich creative and design capabilities.

Ending

As the modern Chinese navy with the largest "mosquito ship" formation in the world at that time. The fate of the "Mosquito Ship" was like the Chinese Navy at that time. It had a good start, but it was a tragic ending.First of all, the decline of the "mosquito ship". In that era when the navy was developing thousands of miles away, the "mosquito ship" was indeed in an advanced position at that time, with cheap prices, huge power, and a short hull belt. The security it comes to make it a sharp tool from the 1870s to the early 1880s. But with the late 1880s, after the Navy began to show the medium-caliber rapid-fire gun , the doomsday of the "Mosquito Ship" came. Previously, large warships were equipped with large-caliber main guns and some small-caliber secondary guns or mechanisms. Although there are medium-caliber secondary guns, those secondary guns are old-fashioned artillery, and their power and accuracy are not superior. But since the medium-caliber rapid-fire gun was developed, its firepower and accuracy have far exceeded these old-fashioned naval guns. What's more fatal is that its speed of fire is amazing, and it can fire several guns in a minute. For "Mosquitoes" Ship, a slow-moving and unarmored ship, is extremely deadly, and the "mosquito ship" can no longer rely on its short hull to obtain safety. With the emergence of torpedo boats, its role gradually began to replace the "mosquito boats", which led to the rapid disappearance of the "mosquito boats" in the 1890s. China's "Mosquito Ship" played its masterpiece of the era for this type of ship in this era. On September 17, 1894, the Battle of the Yellow Sea broke out. In addition to the fierce battle between the main force of the Beiyang Fleet and the main force of the Japanese Fleet in Dadonggou, there were two "mosquito ships" escorting the Qing army to land at the mouth of the Yalu River. They were "Zhennan". After the naval battle broke out, they also followed the "Pingyuan" ironclad ship of the escort fleet to the battlefield, but they did not participate in the war directly, but took on the task of saving people and constantly rescued Beiyang officers and soldiers who fell into the water. At the same time, the last shot of the naval battle was also launched by one of the "Mosquito Ships". In the Weihai Guard Defense Battle, six "town" and "mosquito ships" officially played their role, cooperated with the fort to guard all important waterways, and used their shallow draft to approach the shore to cover the retreat of the Chinese army. And killed a large number of Japanese land troops. Unfortunately, their bravery cannot save this fleet, and the dynasty that is trying their best to maintain. In the end, the Beiyang Fleet was wiped out. After transporting the remaining Beiyang navy out of Weihaiwei, the "Town" and "Mosquito Ship" humiliatedly joined the Japanese Navy. They were all retained their original ship names and served in the Japanese Navy. Even the "Zhongzhong" and "Zhongbian" participated in the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, becoming weapons to attack China. In 1903, six "Mosquito Ship" were removed from service by the Japanese Navy Province and designated as servicing ships. Soon after, they were converted to other uses, scrapped or sold around 1913, completely withdrawing from the stage of history.

The "Zhendong" in Japan

, and the "Longxiang" class and "Feingting" class served in the Nanyang Navy until the Republic of China. Later, "Longxiang", "Tiger Power" and "Feingting" were too in the ship condition because of the excessive The few people left the stage of history one after another, only "CeDian" stayed and was used as a water police ship. However, there were differences in the records of the ship. Some historians believed that it was missing after being recruited by Wu Peifu and . , but some historians believe that it served until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, and the truth remains to be examined. The endings of "Jinou", "Hai Jingqing" and "Hai Dongxiong" are unknown. It is speculated that they were sold and eliminated because of the poor ship conditions. At this point, the largest warship family that once appeared in the modern Chinese navy completely withdrew from the stage of history.