Chinese turret ship Zhenyuan Zhenyuan ( ; Wade - Giles : Chen Yuen ) was a German - built Chinese Beiyang Fleet turret ship of the 19th century . Her sister ship was the " Dingyuan " . Built with thick armour and modern Krupp guns , they were superior to any in the Imperial Japanese Navy at the time . Background . " Zhenyuan " displaced 7 , 670 tons loaded and had a speed of 15 . 4 knots ( 29 km / h ) . At 10 knots ( 19 km / h ) , she had a range of around . Her armament consisted of four 12 inch ( 305 mm ) Krupp 25 calibre breech - loading guns in two barbette s one either side with a secondary armament of two 5 . 9 inch ( 150 mm ) 35 calibre Krupp breech - loaders placed fore and aft . To this were added six 37 mm guns and three above the waterline torpedo tubes . Total crew was around 363 officers and men . " Zhenyuan " was built by Stettiner Vulcan AG , in Stettin , Germany ( now Szczecin , Poland ) . The hull was laid down in March 1882 , she was launched on 28 November 1882 and started her sea trials in March 1884 . Service Life . Chinese service . " Zhenyuan " was based out of Lüshunkou , the chief naval station of the Beiyang Fleet . In 1886 , she participated in show of force , touring Hong Kong , the Japanese port of Nagasaki , Korean ports of Busan and Wonsan , and the Russian naval base of Vladivostok together with " Dingyuan " and four cruisers . While in Nagasaki on 13 August 1886 , a number of drunken sailors from " Zhenyuan " became involved in a brawl in a local brothel , during which a Japanese police officer was fatally stabbed . Attributing the issue to lax discipline , Qing Admiral Ding Ruchang suspended shore leave for a day , but allowed 450 sailors to go ashore on 15 August . Contrary to an agreement with local authorities , many were armed . Anticipating trouble due to increasing anti - Chinese sentiment by the local population , the Japanese police deployed additional men , but were unable to prevent a riot from erupting between stone - throwing locals and the men from " Zhenyuan " . In what came to be called the Nagasaki Incident , six sailors were killed and forty - five wounded , along with five Japanese policemen killed and sixteen wounded . In handling the diplomatic incident , Qing military advisor Captain William M . Lang took a hard line against Japanese authorities , refusing to make any apologies or reparations , and reminding the Japanese of the overwhelming firepower of his fleet and threatening war . However , the incident was resolved through diplomatic efforts . During the First Sino - Japanese War , " Zhenyuan " was commanded by Philo McGiffin and saw action at the Battle of the Yalu River , of 17 September 1894 , during which she suffered severe damage . Repaired at the dockyards at Lüshunkou , she was ordered to transfer out of that port to Weihaiwei in Shandong Province immediately prior to the Battle of Lushunkou , as Viceroy Li Hongzhang could not afford politically to lose any more ships to the Imperial Japanese Navy . However , when entering Weihaiwei harbor , " Zhenyuan " struck a rock and had to be beached , as the only repair facilities were at Lüshunkou . Her captain , Lin Taizeng , committed suicide by overdose of opium over the incident . Captured by the Japanese after the Battle of Weihaiwei on 17 February 1895 , " Zhenyuan " was taken as a prize of war . Japanese service . Rebuilt in 1896 / 7 and commissioned under the name Chin ' en ( the Japanese rendition of the ship ' s original Chinese name ) , " Zhenyuan " was the only battleship in the Imperial Japanese Navy until the commissioning of the . She served during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in escorting Japanese troopships to the Asian mainland . In 1901 , she was renovated by replacement of her two old Krupp guns by four rapid - fire 6 - inch Armstrong cannon . One gun remained in a small nose gun turret ; however , her rear turret was removed , with the stern gun mounted behind a gun shield . The remaining 6 - inch guns were retained in the massive turret behind the bridge . She also received two , eight and two rapid - fire guns , and improvements to her boilers brought her speed up to . However , on 27 May 1903 during a training exercise , an explosion in one of her main guns killed her gun crew of 12 crewmen . Considered obsolete by the time of the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 , " Chin ' en " was rated as a second - line battleship , and served escort duty as well as participating in the Blockade of Port Arthur . She was damaged on 10 August 1904 taking two hits from the Russian fleet . During the Battle of Tsushima , she was relegated to the IJN 5th Fleet , and was successful in attacking Russian troop transports . On 12 December 1905 , " Chin ' en " was re - classed as a 1st class coastal defense ship , but in May 1908 was de - rated to a training vessel . She was struck from the navy list on 1 April 1911 became a target ship . She was damaged by a salvo from the in 1911 and rendered inoperable . She was sold for scrap on 6 April 1912 , and scrapped in Yokohama in 1914 .