Beiyang Fleet
The Beiyang Fleet also included six steel but unarmoured British-built gunboats, delivered in 1879. These gunboats, of identical specifications, were named respectively "Zhenbei" ("Guard the north"), "Zhendong" ("Guard the east"), "Zhennan" ("Guard the south"), "Zhenxi" ("Guard the west"), "Zhenbian" ("Guard the frontier") and "Zhenzhong" ("Guard the interior"). The first four ships were originally to have been allocated to the Nanyang Fleet, but Li Hongzhang was so impressed with their quality that he took them over for the Beiyang Fleet, compensating the Nanyang Fleet with four elderly gunboats that had served with the Beiyang Fleet since 1876.