The Beiyang Naval Division, which was once the No. 1 in Asia, and the main warships that looked at East Asia were basically bought. Among them, there is also an ironclad ship with outstanding achievements but little known and completely designed and produced by the Chinese themselves - "Pingyuan".
The Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, known as "Asia's No. 1 Shipyard" in the Westernization Movement, has a production scale of 3,000 workers in four slipways, and can independently produce iron-wood composite ships. However, in the Sino-French Battle of Mawei, the 11 warships of the Fujian Navy Division were completely annihilated in less than 30 minutes. With such a humiliation, Pei Yinsen, the new Minister of the Fujian Shipping Bureau, was determined to build ironclad ships that represented the highest level in the world at that time.
After three years of arduous development, on September 28, 1889, the "Pingyuan" (originally called "Longwei") was launched for sea trials. This ironclad ship embodies the efforts of Qing craftsmen: 5999 meters, width 1219 meters, displacement of 2150 tons, powered by two three-expansion reciprocating steam engines, the main engine power of 2400 horsepower, speed 105 knots, 260 mm main gun, the whole ship surrounds the waterline with all-steel armor, equipped with light and heavy guns of various types.
After the Japanese occupied Liugong Island, Pingyuan was captured by the Japanese and became a war ship, and was incorporated into the Japanese fleet as a gunboat. Japanese army received"Pingyuan"In 1904, when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, "Pingyuan" was a member of the Seventh Squadron of the Japanese Third Fleet, and sank in the waters of Hatowan when shelling the Russian fortress in Jinzhou Bay on September 18 (two months later"Jiyuan"The ship was struck and sunk in the same place), and was delisted on May 21, 1905.
Pei Yinsen, who was a strong advocate of the construction of ironclad ships, resigned in 1890 and died in 1895. His shipbuilding plan, which was once full of ideals, eventually became a swan song with the capture of the "Pingyuan".