Beiyang Fleet The Beiyang Fleet ( Pei - yang Fleet ; , alternatively Northern Seas Fleet ) was one of the four modernised Chinese navies in the late Qing Dynasty . Among the four , the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang , one of the most trusted vassals of Empress Dowager Cixi and the principal patron of the " self - strengthening movement " in northern China in his capacity as the Viceroy of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce ( 北洋通商大臣 ) . Due to Li ' s influence in the imperial court , the Beiyang Fleet garnered much greater resources than the other Chinese fleets and soon became the dominant navy in East Asia before the onset of First Sino - Japanese War in 1894 – 1895 — it was the largest in the Far East and the 8th in the world during the late 1880s in terms of tonnage . Creation . The creation of the Beiyang Fleet dated back to 1871 , when four ships from the southern provinces were shifted north to patrol the northern waters . The Beiyang fleet was initially considered to be the weakest of the four Chinese regional navies . This soon changed when Li Hongzhang allotted the majority of naval funds to the Beiyang Fleet . In 1884 , on the eve of the Sino - French War , the Beiyang Fleet was the second - largest regional navy but was gradually closing the gap with the Nanyang Fleet , based at Shanghai . By 1890 , it was the largest of China ' s four regional navies . Unlike the other Chinese fleets , the Beiyang Fleet consisted mostly of battleships imported from Germany and Britain . When the flagships and were purchased from Germany , the superiority in strength of the Beiyang Fleet became evident , as Germany was the emerging world power , rivalling Britain ( which dominated the ocean ) in new naval construction . The Qing Chinese navy at its peak consisted of 78 ships , with a total tonnage of 83 , 900 tons . However , construction of new ships almost completely stopped in 1888 due to high expenditures in other fields by the Qing Dynasty , and the supposed naval expenditures were used to repair and build palaces by the Empress Dowager Cixi after she lost interest in naval construction . Due to missing expenditures , the training of the fleet and personnel essentially ran to a standstill , which eventually contributed to its defeat in the Battle of the Yalu River against Japan . Sino - French War . The Beiyang Fleet took good care to stay out of range of Admiral Amédée Courbet ' s Far East Squadron during the Sino - French War ( August 1884 – April 1885 ) . Nevertheless , it featured prominently in the calculations of the French government between 1883 and 1885 . The Beiyang Fleet was due to take delivery in early 1884 of " Dingyuan " , and " Zhenyuan " , three modern warships then building in German shipyards . In December 1883 , as war with China seemed increasingly likely , the French persuaded the German government to delay the release of these three ships . They did not reach China until the autumn of 1885 , after the end of the Sino - French War . In late June 1884 , when the news of the Bac Le Ambush broke , the French admiral Sébastien Lespès , commander of the Far East naval division , was cruising off Che - foo in the Gulf of Petchili with the French warships " La Galissonnière " , " Triomphante " , " Volta " and " Lutin " , while the Beiyang Fleet lay at anchor in Che - foo harbour . Although war was clearly imminent , France and China remained technically at peace , and Lespès was forbidden to attack the Beiyang Fleet pending the outcome of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis . On 3 July 1884 the Beiyang Fleet ' s commander , Admiral Ding Ruchang ( 丁汝昌 ) , withdrew his ships from Che - foo to Pei - ho , where a strong bar across the harbour protected them from the French ships . The fleet remained at Pei - ho in almost complete idleness throughout the Sino - French War . In February 1885 the Beiyang Fleet reluctantly released two of its ships , and , to join a sortie launched by a number of ships of the Nanyang Fleet to break the French blockade of Formosa . The two ships set sail for Shanghai to join the Nanyang vessels , but were almost immediately recalled by Li Hongzhang , who claimed that they were needed to watch the Japanese in Korea . The result was the loss of two Chinese warships from the Nanyang Fleet at the Battle of Shipu ( 14 February 1885 ) . Li ' s selfish attitude was neither forgotten nor forgiven , and in the First Sino - Japanese War the Nanyang Fleet made little attempt to help the Beiyang Fleet . Composition , 1894 . In 1894 , on the eve of the war with Japan , the Beiyang Fleet was in theory the most powerful fleet in Asia . It was only one of China ' s four regional fleets , but in numbers it equalled Japan ' s entire fleet . The pride of the Beiyang Fleet were the German - built steel turret battleships " Dingyuan " 定遠 and " Zhenyuan " 鎮遠 . Between 1881 and 1889 the Beiyang Fleet acquired a squadron of eight protected or armoured cruiser s , most of which were built in either Britain or Germany . The cruisers " Chaoyong " 超勇 and " Yangwei " 揚威 , which joined the fleet in 1881 and were prudently kept far from the scene of action during the Sino - French War by Li Hongzhang , were products of Laird ' s yard , Birkenhead . Three German - built cruisers , " Jiyuan " , " Jingyuan " ( normally romanised as " Kingyuan " or " King Yuen " 經遠 to distinguish her from another , British - built , cruiser whose name was pronounced identically ) and 來遠 , were completed in 1887 in the Vulcan yard at Stettin . Another pair of protected cruiser s , " Chingyuan " 靖遠 and " Zhiyuan " 致遠 , were built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1887 at its new Elswick yard . The latter pair were a class loosely known as the " Elswick Cruisers " , ships built for export under a generally similar design . These cruisers were fast ( 25 knots ) and heavily armed , but were not adopted by the Royal Navy because the Admiralty considered them to be " weak in structure " . Their view proved to be right when both Chinese ships were lost in the Sino - Japanese War , and the Japanese ( " Yoshino " and " Takasago " ) during the 1904 Russo - Japanese War . These foreign - built ships were joined in 1889 by the armoured cruiser " Pingyuan " , a product of the Foochow Navy Yard originally named " Longwei " ( " Lung - wei " , 龍威 ) . 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 . The Beiyang Fleet also possessed an array of small torpedo boats . Exact numbers are uncertain , because these craft were not systematically listed , but some details are known . Four 16 - ton torpedo boats were built in 1883 at the Vulcan yard in Stettin for the use of the steel battleships " Dingyuan " and " Zhenyuan " . These four craft , known respectively as " Dingyuan " No . 1 and No . 2 and " Zhenyuan " No . 1 and No . 2 , were delayed in harbour by the Germans during the Sino - French War along with their mother ships , and joined the Beiyang Fleet in October 1885 . Torpedo Boat s Training Ships Auxiliary Ships Transport First Sino - Japanese War . Claiming her responsibilities on Choson affairs , in 1894 , the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the First Sino - Japanese War against China . Due to the lack of government funding and the intensive Japanese naval program , Beiyang ' s once superior resources were becoming outdated . By the time of the Battle of Yalu River ( 1894 ) , the Beiyang Fleet suffered heavy losses due to the surprise attack of the Japanese and the inferiority of its equipment , and was eventually annihilated in the Battle of Weihaiwei . Minor attempts to rebuild the fleet were made after the war , but the Beiyang Navy was never to reattain its former significance .