Fujian Fleet The Fujian Fleet ( or ) was one of China ' s four regional fleets during the closing decades of the nineteenth century . The fleet was almost annihilated on 23 August 1884 by Admiral Amédée Courbet ' s Far East Squadron at the Battle of Fuzhou , the opening engagement of the Sino - French War ( August 1884 – April 1885 ) . Composition . The Fujian Fleet , which would be the main target of the French attack in August 1884 , was considerably weaker than the Beiyang Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet , though slightly stronger than the Guangdong Fleet . Nearly all of its ships were elderly products of the Foochow Navy Yard . Its flagship , the wooden corvette " Yangwu " , was built in 1872 . The other Chinese - built ships included the wooden gunboats " Fuxing " and " Zhenwei " ( 1870 and 1872 ) , the wooden transports " Fupo " , " Feiyun " , " Ji ' an " , " Yongbao " and " Chenhang " ( all built in 1874 or earlier ) , and the despatch vessel " Yixin " . The fleet also included two British - built ships , the 256 - ton Rendel ‘ flatiron ’ gunboats " Jiansheng " and " Fusheng " , which had been ordered by the southern trade commissioner Shen Baozhen in the wake of the Japanese incursion into southern Taiwan in 1874 and were built at Laird ’ s yard in Birkenhead in 1875 . " Table 1 : Ships of the Fujian Fleet ( listed according to date of construction ) " The Battle of Fuzhou . Nine of the eleven vessels of the Fujian Fleet were destroyed in less than an hour during the Battle of Fuzhou ( 23 August 1884 ) . The Chinese flagship " Yangwu " was successfully attacked with a spar torpedo and grounded . The despatch vessel " Fuxing " was also attacked , less successfully , with spar torpedoes , and was finally carried by boarding . She had already been set alight by French shellfire , and was eventually abandoned by the French prize crew and sank in the middle of the Min River . " Zhenwei " was blown up by a single shell from the ironclad " Triomphante " , which joined the French squadron minutes before the battle began . " Chenhang " , " Yongbao " , " Feiyun " , " Ji ' an " , " Fusheng " and " Jiansheng " were either sunk or set alight by shellfire from the cruisers " Duguay - Trouin " , " Villars " and " d ’ Estaing " . Only " Fupo " and " Yixin " survived the battle without serious damage , by escaping upriver before the French ships had a chance to engage them . Fleet acquisitions after 1885 . The Fujian Fleet never recovered from the loss of most of its ships in the Sino - French War . During the following decade it acquired several new ships , but it was never as large again as it was in 1884 . The composite sloop " Henghai " ( 橫海 ) was completed at the Foochow Navy Yard in late 1885 and entered service with the Fujian Fleet . The sloop , which had been lying on the slips at the Foochow Navy Yard in August 1884 , had been holed by French gunfire in the Battle of Fuzhou ( 23 August 1884 ) , but the Chinese seem to have repaired the damage rapidly . " Henghai " served with the Fujian Fleet for less than a year . She ran aground off the Pescadores Islands on 30 March 1886 in thick fog , and broke up several days later during a gale after efforts by the warships " Fupo " ( 伏波 ) and " Wannianqing " ( 萬年清 ) to refloat her had failed . In 1893 the 2 , 200 - ton steel torpedo boat " Fujing " ( 福靖 ) was completed at the Foochow Navy Yard and joined the Fujian Fleet . She was sent north during the Sino - Japanese War to assist the Beiyang Fleet , but returned to Fujian in 1896 without having seen action . She sank in a storm near Port Arthur in 1898 .