Global InformationChinese ironclad Dingyuan information
 Dingyuan early in her career
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| History | |
|---|---|
 China | |
| Name | Dingyuan |
| Ordered | 1880 |
| Builder | Stettiner AG Vulcan, Stettin, Germany |
| Laid down | March 1881 |
| Launched | 28 December 1881 |
| Completed | May 1883 |
| Commissioned | November 1885 |
| Fate | Scuttled, 10 February 1895 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Dingyuan-class ironclad |
| Displacement |
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| Length | 308 ft (94 m) |
| Beam | 59 ft (18 m) |
| Draft | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph) |
| Range | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 350 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Dingyuan (simplified Chinese: 定远; traditional Chinese: 定遠; pinyin: Dìngyǔan; Wade–Giles: Ting Yuen or Ting Yuan, English: Everlasting Peace[1]) was an ironclad battleship and the flagship of the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. She was the lead ship of the Dingyuan class, which included one other vessel, Zhenyuan, both of which were built in Germany in the early 1880s. Delivery of the two ironclads was delayed by the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns in a pair of gun turrets, making them the most powerful warships in East Asian waters at the time.
Dingyuan served as the flagship of Admiral Ding Ruchang during her active career. In the 1880s and early 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet conducted a routine of training exercises and cruises abroad, with emphasis placed on visits to Japan to intimidate the country. The latter resulted in the Nagasaki Incident in 1886 and contributed to a rise in hostility between the two countries that culminated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. She led the Chinese fleet during the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September, where the Japanese Combined Fleet sank much of the Beiyang Fleet, though both Dingyuan and Zhenyuan survived despite numerous hits, thanks to their heavy armor. The survivors then retreated to Port Arthur for repairs, but after that city was threatened by the Japanese Army, fled to Weihaiwei.
As the Japanese continued to advance, they laid siege to Weihaiwei in late January 1895. On 5 February, a Japanese torpedo boat slipped into the port and hit Dingyuan with a torpedo, inflicting serious damage. The Chinese crew were forced to beach the vessel to avoid sinking, and for the next week, Dingyuan was used as a stationary artillery battery. Japanese ground forces seized the city's coastal fortifications on 9 February, allowing their artillery to shell the ships in the harbor, which prompted Ding to surrender. Dingyuan was scuttled in the harbor on 10 February. A full-scale replica of the ship was built in Weihai in 2003 as a museum ship and in 2019, the Chinese government announced that an underwater survey had located the original vessel's wreck.
- ^ Scientific American. Munn & Company. 1882-02-11. p. 90.