Battle of the Yalu River

choi

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(1) I am always interested in the First Sino-Japanese War.

(2) I heard that shortly before that war, Qing's navy was ranked very top in
the world.

First Sino-Japanese War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Sino-Japanese_War

Section 2.2.2 titled "Beiyang Fleet" states, "The Beiyang Fleet was one of
the four modernised Chinese navies in the late Qing Dynasty. The navies were
heavily sponsored by Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili. The Beiyang Fleet
was the dominant navy in East Asia before the first Sino-Japanese War. The
Beiyang Fleet was said to be the 'Best in Asia' and 'The 8th largest in the
world' during the late 1880s[citation needed]. However ships were not
maintained properly and indiscipline was common.[6]"

Despite lack of citation, "best in Asia" and "8th largest" might well be
true, considering few independent nations at the time. Just now I searched
the web, and all returns are copies or reproduction of Wikipedia. So there
won't be any citation for now.

(2) However, the Wikipedia page also supplies a reference (No. 6) which is

Lawrence Sondhaus, Naval Warfare, 1815-1914. Routledge (2001).

(a) A web page of Chairman Sondhaus, Department of History, University of
Indianapolis
http://cas.uindy.edu/iswd/faculty/sondhaus.php

(b) Wikipedia gives the wrong pages from this book. It should be 169-173.

To read the pertinent portion of the book, turn to Google Books, by
searching Google.com with "Naval Warfare, 1815-1914, Lawrence Sondhaus Japan
" for the right pages

Note:
* Heihachiro TOGO 東郷 平八郎
* Yuko ITO 伊東 祐亨
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukeyuki_Ito

Also known as Sukeyuki ITO, where Yuko is Chinese pronunciation and Sukeyuki
, Japanese pronunciation, for the same Kanji 祐亨)

* Kozo TSUBOI 坪井 航三
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuboi_K%C5%8Dz%C5%8D

For the name of battleships, see Battle of the Yalu River (1894)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Yalu_River_(1894)
* Akitsushima 秋津洲 (秋津洲/秋津島, of the same pronunciation, is the
ancient name for Honshu 本州.
* Yoshino 吉野 (Built in Elswick, Great Britain)
* For Idzumi, see Izumi 和泉(防護巡洋艦) (和泉国 is an ancient country,
located southwest of the present-day Osaka.)
* For Battle of P'ung Island, See
Battle of Pungdo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pungdo

* Naniwa 浪速
* Kuang Yi 広乙
* The "line ahead" formation is a single file. For purpose, see
section 1 "Development" in
Line of Battle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_battle

The "line abreast" formation is all battleships forward side by side. For
its purpose, see section 3 "Line abreast" in
Naval tactics in the Age of Galleys
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_tactics_in_the_Age_of_Galleys
* Matsushima 松島
* King Yuan 經遠
* Wilhelm von Tegetthoff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Tegetthoff
(Austrian admiral; rammed Italian fleet at Battle of Lissa on July 20, 1866)
* Hashidate 橋立
* amidships (adv): "1 : in or toward the part of a ship midway between bow
and stern  2 : in or toward the middle"
* Krupp armour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krupp_armour
("developed by Germany's Krupp Arms Works in 1893 and quickly replaced
Harvey armour as the primary method of protecting naval ships")
* Fuso 扶桑
* Hiei 比叡 (after 比叡山 Mt. Hiei outside og Tokyo)
* dreadnought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought
("The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's Dreadnought had such an impact
when launched in 1906 that battleships built after her were referred to as '
dreadnoughts', and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts. Her
design had two revolutionary features: an 'all-big-gun' armament scheme and
steam turbine propulsion.")
* draught: British for "draft"

draft (n): "the depth of water a ship draws especially when loaded"

All English definitions are from www.m-w.com.

* Suez Canal opened in 1869, after a decade of construction.

My comment: After reading pages 169-173, Qing's Beiyang Fleet was not bad
after all.

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