Beiyang Fleet

One of the four modernised Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty

The Beiyang Fleet (Pei yang Fleet; , alternatively Northern Seas Fleet) was one of the four modernized Chinese navies in the late Qing dynasty. Among the four, the Beiyang Fleet was particularly sponsored by Li Hongzhang, one of the most trusted vassals of Empress Dowager Cixi and the principal patron of the "self strengthening movement" in northern China in his capacity as the Viceroy of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce (北洋通商大臣). Due to Li's influence in the imperial court, the Beiyang Fleet garnered much greater resources than the other Chinese fleets and soon became the dominant navy in Asia before the onset of the 1894–1895 First Sino Japanese War. It was the largest fleet in Asia and the 8th in the world during the late 1880s in terms of tonnage.

The Fuzhou academy in the Fuzhou arsenal established in 1866 produced many naval officers which Li hired for the Beiyang navy however the academy also had to provide officers for the other three fleets and with the academy producing only 630 cadets over a 14 year period this was insufficient and Li established the Beiyang naval college in 1880 which produced 300 cadets within the same 14 year period however Fuzhou graduates still composed the majority of the graduates in the fleet. Nonetheless, these two academies only provided basic and general naval training which was insufficient for a modern fleet so 35 cadets were sent to study in the Royal Naval College Greenwich, Royal Artillery academy Woolwich and others with a more practical assignment in the Royal Navy itself when these students returned to China they were appointed captains this meant a minimum of 636 trained cadets in a fleet numbering 4,000. Senior command of the fleet however went to Ding Ruchang, an army officer without any formal training who was noted for his courage and capability in land affairs therefore William Lang was appointed as Chief Inspector of the Beiyang navy in 1882 and re appointed for another term in 1885 however Lang resigned following the Flag hoisting incident where Beiyang officers refused to hoist the Admiral's flag due to Ding Ruchang's absence Lang felt insulted when Li did not support him and Lang resigned in anger.

It was necessary for a modern fleet to possess fortified dockyards and bases for the maintenance and repair of ships of that navy. Li Hongzhang endeavoured therefore to create the necessary support needed for the fleet. The remit of the Beiyang fleet was the protection of the coastal waters between the mouth of the Yalu river and the bay of Jiaozhou a large section of the coastline and an important one as it guarded the Bohai bay and therefore the approaches to Tianjin and the capital Beijing. Li decided to fortify the ports of Lushunkou, Weihaiwei and Tianjin that formed a triangle within the Bohai bay.

This port at the mouth of the Hai river and the port city of the capital Beijing was strategically important and was also the headquarters of the entirety of the Beiyang fleet. The base also hosted the Dagu shipyards, the Tianjin Arsenal, the Tianjin Naval college, the Beiyang Military Academy. The base at Tianjin hosted the telegraph office and academy of the fleet making it important for communication as well as a medical academy and a hospital for naval personnel the torpedo and mining detachments also had their headquarters based in the base.

This city sits at the Northeastern tip of the Shandong peninsula and guarded the southern entrance to the Bohai bay. The harbour of Weihai was guarded by Liugong Island and had excellent deep waters for the basing of large warships. The naval base was established in 1887 due to the limited budget of the fleet soon the harbour was fortified, with an arsenal including a torpedo factory being constructed too, other facilities included an ammunition depot and coaling facilities important for the fleet. In late June 1884, when the news of the Bắc Lệ ambush broke, the French admiral Sébastien Lespès, commander of the Far East naval division, was cruising off Che foo in the Gulf of Petchili with the French warships French ironclad La Galissonnière, French ironclad Triomphante, Volta and Lutin, while the Beiyang Fleet lay at anchor in Che foo harbour. Although war was clearly imminent, France and China remained technically at peace, and Lespès was forbidden to attack the Beiyang Fleet pending the outcome of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. On 3 July 1884 the Beiyang Fleet's commander, Admiral Ding Ruchang (丁汝昌), withdrew his ships from Che foo to Pei ho, where a strong bar across the harbour protected them from the French ships. The fleet remained at Pei ho in almost complete idleness throughout the Sino French War. In February 1885 the Beiyang Fleet reluctantly released two of its ships, Chinese cruiser Chaoyong and Chinese cruiser Yangwei, to join a sortie launched by a number of ships of the Nanyang Fleet to break the French blockade of Formosa. The two ships set sail for Shanghai to join the Nanyang vessels, but were almost immediately recalled by Li Hongzhang, who claimed that they were needed to watch the Japanese in Korea. The result was the loss of two Chinese warships from the Nanyang Fleet at the Battle of Shipu (14 February 1885). Li's selfish attitude was neither forgotten nor forgiven, and in the First Sino Japanese War the Nanyang Fleet made little attempt to help the Beiyang Fleet.

The Beiyang Fleet maintained a naval infantry unit of 300 marines who were identified by their red uniforms as opposed to the regular Beiyang Navy personnels white dress uniforms for the summer & autumn, and blue dress uniform for the winter & spring. The marines role also involved military policing and firefighting along with their role in amphibious warfare. The marines saw action following the First Sino Japanese War when it attempted to retake Nanbang Fort (南幫炮台) after it was attacked by Japanese forces on Christmas day of 1895 and fell on December 29 1895. However the marines failed to dislodge the Japanese from the fort.

In 1894, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched the First Sino Japanese War against China. Due to the lack of government funding and the intensive Japanese naval program, Beiyang's once superior resources were becoming outdated. By the time of the Battle of Yalu River (1894), the Beiyang Fleet suffered heavy losses due to the surprise attack of the Japanese and the inferiority of its equipment, and was eventually annihilated in the Battle of Weihaiwei. Minor attempts to rebuild the fleet were made after the war, but the Beiyang Navy was never to reattain its former significance. From 1896 to 1899 the fleet received new ships from Germany and the United Kingdom, including the s Hai Qi and Hai Tien that arrived in Dagū, where they became part of the reorganized Beiyang Fleet at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. In 1909 the Beiyang and Nanyang fleets were merged and re organised into the Sea Fleet and the River Fleet.