丁汝昌
Completed in early 1883 and 1884, respectively, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" were to be sailed to China by a German crew, but delays—primarily from France following the outbreak of the Sino-French War in 1884—kept the ships in Germany. A German crew took "Dingyuan" out for a firing test at sea, causing glass to shatter around the ship, along with damage to a funnel. After the war ended in April 1885, the two ironclads were permitted to depart for China, along with "Jiyuan". The three ships arrived in China in October and they were formally commissioned into the Beiyang Fleet. "Dingyuan" was the flagship of the new formation, and by the time of the First Sino-Japanese War, she was under the command of Commodore Liu Pu-chan, while Admiral Ding Ruchang was also stationed on board. "Zhenyuan" was under the command of Captain Lin T'ai-tseng. With the war breaking out in 1894, both ships of the "Dingyuan" class first saw combat at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September.