Comparisons and comparisons
As for Japan, it has always had a difficult relationship with China. First a younger brother with an older one. The Japanese viewed China with admiration bordering on adoration. “All the best comes from China,” they said, and they were absolutely right. Almost all of their culture, including the religion of Buddhism, came to them (or was brought to them) from China. Their own find is perhaps the custom of opening their belly. In China, suicides were usually hanged, and very often offended at the gates of the offender, in order to cause trouble.
Japanese cruiser "Itsukushima".
By the 16th century, this was the relationship of equal partners, grappling with each other over a tidbit - Korea. The Chinese considered it their protectorate, the Japanese - "what needs to be shared." The result was a war of extermination, which ended with the fact that the samurai had to retreat.
Then Japan plunged into a gloom of isolation, but began to transform along the European model as a whole earlier than China and therefore succeeded more. The Japanese generally bought their first ramming battleship "Kotetsu" from the defeated southerners, and the fact that it even got from Cuba to Japan through the Pacific Ocean is a real feat of navigation. Just like the Chinese, the Japanese invited specialists from Europe, including shipbuilders. For example, the construction of the first own warship - the cruiser "Hasidate" and its sisterships "Matsushima" and "Itsukushima" was carried out under the direction and according to the drawings of the French designer E. Bertin.
Japanese cruiser "Matsushima", 1895 Pescadores Islands.
The previous article told about the Chinese ships that fought in the Battle of Yalu, and it was concluded that for a number of reasons they turned out, well, let's say, somewhat more original than the traditional European warships - battleships and cruisers. And - amazing things are sometimes presented to us by life, the same thing happened with the Japanese. Because all these three cruisers were nothing more than a three-gun French battleship, "cut" into three parts and turned into three separate ships. On two cruisers, the 320-mm gun was installed in a barbette on the bow, but on the Matsushima it was installed … at the rear. These guns, at best, could give 2 shots per hour, although they were distinguished by good armor penetration. Their only trump card was a whole battery of rapid-fire 120-mm guns and a speed of 16 knots, and they had no other advantages over Chinese ships. The Chinese cruisers were smaller than the Japanese ones and each had two medium-caliber guns. Moreover, these were old guns with a low rate of fire. That is, it turns out that the Chinese squadron significantly surpassed the Japanese large-caliber artillery, having 27 guns against 12. But the Japanese had medium-caliber 120-152-mm guns: 84 against 25. At the same time, their guns fired 3-4 times more often, than Japanese. That is, the Japanese in the upcoming battle should have had an advantage in the power of fire over the Chinese in a ratio of approximately 2: 1. It is also important to note the difference in the types of ammunition used by the Japanese and the Chinese: the former had mainly high-explosive fragmentation shells. Moreover, on the newest ships, the shells had charges of melinite, which had a significantly greater destructive power than black powder and pyroxylin. The Chinese had mostly armor-piercing shells, solid, or with a very small explosive charge and a bottom fuse. Knowing that in the upcoming war he would have to fight lightly armored Japanese cruisers, Admiral Ding Zhuchan demanded high-explosive shells for his guns. But … even what they managed to get was only a quarter of the ammunition available on the Chinese ships. That is, there is no need to say that the Chinese guns were in abundance provided with effective shells precisely for the upcoming battle. However, one circumstance played into the hands of the Chinese. This is the range of their large-caliber guns. In particular, both Chinese battleships could shoot at a distance of up to 7 km, that is, hit the enemy from afar. It was only during the battle that their ships clashed with the Japanese so closely that they lost this advantage.
Japanese armored cruiser "Akitsushima", 1897
And they lost it primarily because the Japanese, in turn, had an advantage in speed. Their newest cruisers were faster than Chinese ships. In addition, one should not lose sight of the fact that the ship mechanisms on them were more worn out, even simply because of their age. Therefore, they could not develop the speed they were supposed to. At the same time, the Chinese sailors and officers were well trained, which was shown by the naval exercises held in May 1894. As for the fighting spirit, according to the description of eyewitnesses - participants in the battle, it was high on both squadrons.
Japanese armored cruiser Naniwa, 1887
Barbet 259-mm installation of the Japanese armored cruiser "Naniwa".
As for the quantitative side of the matter, the forces of the parties that entered the battle on September 17, 1894 were as follows: on the Chinese side - two battleships of the 2nd class, three armored cruisers of the 3rd class, three armored cruisers of the 3rd class, one mine a cruiser, three armless cruisers of the 3rd class and two destroyers, that is, a total of 15 ships.
Destroyer of the Beiyang fleet "Tso 1".
Their opponents, the Japanese, had seven armored cruisers of the 2nd class, one armored cruiser of the 3rd class, one small casemate battleship, one semi-armored corvette, one gunboat and one staff ship (or auxiliary cruiser) - a total of 12 ships. That is, the Chinese had an advantage in the number of ships, but as already mentioned here, on the Japanese side there was a significant superiority in the number of medium-caliber guns, rate of fire, the amount of metal and explosives thrown out, as well as in speed. Chinese ships had an advantage in armor protection.
Japanese armored cruiser of the III class "Chiyoda".
The most amazing thing, however, was that here, infinitely far from Europe, ships built within the framework of the concept of … Italian shipbuilding were tested in battle. Both Chinese battleships were built according to the "citadel" scheme, borrowed from the ships of the "Cayo Duilio" class, but the Japanese cruisers of the "Matsushima" type essentially represented the implementation of the battleship "Italy" project. So in the Yellow Sea, if you think about it, it was the "Italian ships" that had a chance to fight, but with some differences, which were expressed in a large number of medium-caliber artillery on the ships of the Japanese.
Japanese armored cruiser of the 2nd class "Yoshino". 1893 g.
For example, consider how the Japanese armored cruiser of the 2nd class "Yoshino" was armed. Four 152-mm rapid-fire guns with separate loading of the Armstrong system with 40-caliber barrels served him as the main caliber and could fire at a distance of up to 9100 m, giving 5-7 rounds per minute. They were located on sponsons along the sides on the upper deck, two in the bow at the foremast, and two others behind the mainmast at the stern. The medium caliber was represented by six quick-firing guns of the same manufacturer, 120 mm with separate loading, and the same barrel length. Their firing range was practically the same as that of the six-inch models - 9000 m, but the rate of fire was higher and reached 12 rounds per minute. Obviously, none of the Chinese ships of the same class could, under all other circumstances, fight with him on an equal footing. Even the battleships could get from him. At the same time, he could not be afraid to receive in response even their large-caliber shells! Running a little ahead, it is worth saying that in the battle of Yalu, the rapid-fire artillery of this ship showed excellent fighting qualities in comparison with the old large-caliber cannons, which gave one shot in a few minutes and did not have sufficient ammunition. During the battle, the cruiser fired about 1200 shells, so that its deck was ankle-deep filled with empty cartridges from unitary shots, so that the gunners had to throw them overboard with shovels.
An eyewitness of the events tells
Well, about how they were preparing for the upcoming battle on Japanese ships, perhaps best of all, told the participant of those events, who was on board the battleship "Dingyuan" American Philon Norton McGiffin, who wrote an article about this battle in the magazine "Century".
"Masushima" in the battle at Yalu.
So, he writes that with the outbreak of hostilities, both officers and sailors worked continuously to bring the ships to a state of maximum combat readiness. After the collision with the Japanese on July 25 at Baker Island, all boats were removed from the ships, except for one six-oar longboat, which remained on each ship. In this battle, the boats caught fire almost immediately and they had to be extinguished, and when they were extinguished, it turned out that they were completely disabled. The heavy steel caps covering the main battery guns were also removed. It was decided that their armor was not thick enough to protect their servants in the event of a shell hit. But having broken through their armor and exploded inside, the shell would be guaranteed to destroy everyone there. And as it turned out later, this decision was correct, since many shells flew right over the heads of the gunners serving them.
Ships of the Beiyang Fleet leave Weihaiwei harbor.
All unnecessary woodwork, rigging, etc. were removed, the side wings of the bridge were cut off; and all handrails and ladders have been removed. The turret-like shields of the 6-inch guns, fore and aft, were retained to protect the gun crews from heavy cannon fire when they fired forward or backward. Hammocks were placed as protection for the crews of the same guns, and sandbags were placed inside the superstructure so that this "parapet" was about three feet thick and four feet high. Inside them, several dozen 100-pound rounds and 6-inch cannon shells were stored on deck to ensure fast service. Most of the glass from the portholes was removed and sent ashore. Bagged charcoal has also been used for protection wherever possible. This defense of coal and sandbags served excellently, and several unexploded shells and fragments were found in it after the battle. The fans were lowered to the level of the deck and deployed so that their sockets did not interfere with the firing of the turret guns. All watertight doors were closed. The ships were repainted in "invisible gray" immediately before the battle.
Model of the ship "Dingyuan" with the caps of the gun turrets removed. Most likely, this is how both Chinese ships looked at the battle of Yalu.
