Imperial Chinese Navy
The Imperial Chinese Navy was the modern navy of the Qing dynasty of China established in 1875. An Imperial naval force in China first came into existence from 1132 during the Song dynasty and existed in some form until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912. However, the "Imperial Chinese Navy" usually only refers to the Qing navy which existed between 1875 and 1912. History. Precursors. In the 1860s, an attempt to establish a modern navy via the British-built Osborn or "Vampire" Fleet to combat the Taiping rebels' US-built gunboats. The so-called "Vampire  Fleet" fitted out by the Chinese government for the suppression of piracy on the coast of China, owing to the non-fulfilment of the condition that British commander Sherard Osborn should receive orders from the imperial government only, was scrapped. Establishment of the Qing navy. In 1865, the Jiangnan Shipyard was established. In 1874, a Japanese incursion into Taiwan exposed the vulnerability of China at sea. A proposal was made to establish three modern coastal fleets: the Northern Sea or Beiyang Fleet, to defend the Yellow Sea, the Southern Sea or Nanyang Fleet, to defend the East China Sea, and  the Canton Sea or Yueyang Fleet, to defend the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. The Beiyang Fleet, with a remit to defend the section of coastline closest to the capital Beijing, was prioritised. A series of warships were ordered from Britain and Germany in the late 1870s, and naval bases were built at Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. The first British-built ships were delivered in 1881, and the Beiyang Fleet was formally established in 1888. In 1894 the Beiyang Fleet was on paper the strongest navy in Asia at the time. However, it was largely lost during the  First Sino-Japanese War in the Battle of the Yalu River. Although the "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" modern battleships were impervious to Japanese fire, they were unable to sink a single ship and all eight cruisers were lost. The battle displayed once again that the modernisation efforts of China were far inferior to the Meiji Restoration. The Nanyang Fleet was also established in 1875, and grew with mostly domestically built warships and a small number of acquisitions from Britain and Germany. The admiralty or naval board ("haijun yamen") was established in 1885. The Nanyang Fleet fought in the Sino-French War , performing somewhat poorly against the French in all engagements. The separate Fujian and Guangdong fleets became part of the Imperial navy after 1875. The Fujian Fleet was almost annihilated during the Sino-French War, and was only able to acquire two new ships thereafter. By 1891, due to budget cuts, the Fujian Fleet was barely a viable fleet. The Guangdong Fleet was established in the late 1860s and based at Whampoa, in Canton (now Guangzhou). After the First Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zhidong established a river-based fleet in Hubei. In 1909, the remnants of the Beiyang, Nanyang, Guangdong and  Fujian Fleets, together with the Hubei fleet, were merged, and re-organised as the Sea Fleet and the River Fleet. And There are plans to re-develop the fleet. With a budget of 7-8 million taels per year with a small amount of loan from the United States of America. In 1911, Sa Zhenbing became the Minister of Navy of the Great Qing. One of the new ships delivered after the war with Japan, the cruiser "Hai Chi", in 1911 became the first vessel flying the Yellow Dragon Flag to arrive in American waters, visiting New York City as  part of a tour. Successors. After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, the Imperial Chinese Navy was replaced by the Republic of China Navy. The People's Liberation Army Navy was established in early 1949 by the Communist Party of China, and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China later that year became the main navy of China. Governance. In 1885, after the Sino-French War, the Qing court set up a Navy Office to oversee the navy. In 1910, as part of the reform of the Qing  government structure, the Navy Office was replaced by a Navy Ministry, headed by a Navy Secretary. The highest ranks of the navy after the merger of the fleets in 1909 were: When it was first developed by Empress Dowager Cixi, the Beiyang Fleet was said to be the strongest navy in East Asia. Before her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu, took over the throne in 1889, Cixi wrote out explicit orders that the navy should continue to develop and expand gradually. On the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War, the German General Staff predicted a victory for China and William  Lang, who was a British advisor to the Chinese military, praised Chinese training, ships, guns, and fortifications, stating that "in the end, there is no doubt that Japan must be utterly crushed". However, after Cixi went into retirement, all naval and military development came to a drastic halt. The military defeats suffered by China has been attributed to the factionalism of regional military governors. For instance, the Beiyang Fleet refused to participate in the Sino-French War in 1884, the Nanyang Fleet retaliating by refusing to deploy during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895. Li Hongzhang wanted to personally maintain  control of this fleet, many top vessels among its number, by keeping it in northern China and not let it slip into the control of southern factions. China did not have a single admiralty in charge of all the Chinese navies before 1885; the northern and southern Chinese navies did not cooperate, therefore enemy navies needed only to fight a segment of China's navy. Ship types. Pre-19th-century ships were wood and of various sizes. Following the First Opium War, the Qing improved their naval fleet with modern ships from Europe: Battleships: Coastal Defense Ships: Cruisers: Corvettes: Flags. Flags  shown are for the Imperial Chinese Navy during the period 1909 to 1911: "Notes:The Commodore was not a substantive rank, but rather a captain commanding a squadron."