Chinese cruiser Zhiyuan Zhiyuan ( ) was an armored cruiser in the late Qing Dynasty Beiyang Fleet . Its sister ship was the 1886 Jingyuan ( " Ching - Yuen " ) . Background . As part of his drive to create a modern navy following the Sino - French War , Viceroy Li Hongzhang turned to Armstrong Whitworth shipyards in Elswick , England , which had developed a new type of warship specifically for the export market called the protected cruiser . Design . " Jingyuan " was a typical “ Elswick ” protected cruiser design , with a steel housing , divided into waterproof compartments , a low forecastle , a single smokestack , and two masts . The prow was reinforced for ramming . The power plant was a triple expansion reciprocating steam engine with four cylindrical boilers , driving two screws . However , the ship was more lightly - armed that typical Elswick designs , with the main armament consisting of three breech - loading 8 - inch ( 209 mm ) Krupp cannon , two paired on a rotating platform in front of the ship , and one mounted on a rotating platform in the stern . Both mounts were protected by gun shield s . The secondary armament consisted of two 6 - inch ( 149 mm ) Armstrong gun s mounted on sponsons on either side of the deck . The ship also had eight 57 - mm rapid - fire guns and six 37 mm Hotchkiss gun s , as well as four torpedo s . Although the most modern vessels in the Beiyang Fleet at the time of the First Sino - Japanese War , " Zhiyuan " and " Jingyuan " suffered by comparison with similar Elswick designs in the Imperial Japanese Navy , such as the , which were more heavily armed . Service record . " Zhiyuan " was laid down on 20 October 1885 , launched on 29 September 1886 , completed on 23 July 1887 . On arrival in China in 1888 , " Zhiyuan " and " Jingyuan " were both assigned to the Beiyang Fleet . In the summer of 1889 , both vessels were part of the flotilla let by Admiral Ding Ruchang , calling on the Russian naval base of Vladivostok . Both vessels were in the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894 . Early in the battle , the captain of " Zhiyuan " moved aggressively against the Japanese command vessel Saikyō Maru , inflicting considerable damage on it , and coming under counterattack by the Japanese flying squadron led by Admiral Tsuboi Kōzō ( , , , and ) . The Japanese cruisers circled " Zhiyuan " , firing at a more rapid pace and scoring more hits than the poorly trained and poorly supplied Chinese gunners . Deng Shichang , the captain of " Zhiyuan " attempted to close on " Yoshino " ( a Japanese source considers it was the " Naniwa " ) to ram , but was hit in the bow by a shell fired from either " Naniwa " or " Takachiho " at 15 : 50 hours , which caused a massive explosion , after which she rapidly sank . Some 245 officers and crewmen out of a 252 complement went down with the ship . Conversely , the captain of " Jingyuan " kept his distance from combat , and refused to engage the Japanese fleet and escaped the battle with minor damage . Chinese sources claimed Captain Deng , was pulled on the arm by his pet dog to lifeboat in the water after his ship went down , but refused rescue and eventually disappeared under the waves with his dog . A subsequent report concludes that during the battle , " The braves were too rash , they charged without order , while the cowards ( Fang Boqian and Wu Jingrong ) were too cowardly , they ran without order " .