Historical events of the destroyer USS Flying Eagle

On September 21, 1898, Empress Dowager Cixi launched the Wuxu Coup of 1898. On the same day, Kang Youwei boarded the "Chongqing" passenger ship of the British merchant Swire Shipping Company and left Tianjin at 11 a.m. heading south to Shanghai. After learning about it, Ronglu, the governor of Zhili, sent the destroyer Flying Eagle to pursue it. According to the speed of the destroyer Feiying, there should be no problem in catching up with the passenger ship "Chongqing". When Liu Guanxiong was sailing the ship halfway, he claimed that the ship had run out of coal and returned to Tianjin. The reason for this is unknown. Some say that Liu was a student studying in England and sympathized with the reform; some say that Ronglu deliberately released him so that Kang Youwei could not confront Emperor Guangxu, allowing Empress Dowager Cixi to more easily control the situation in Beijing after the coup. However, these are all speculations and there is no historical data. in accordance with.

In the early summer of 1909, the destroyer USS Flying Eagle and a customs patrol boat sailed to Dongsha Islands to collect evidence, and also visited the Paracel Islands. In his report submitted to Beijing, Zhang Renjun pointed out that Dongsha and Xisha "are the key points for Europeans to come to China, and are the first gateway to Southeast Asia. If they are left untamed, it will not only be a waste of geographical advantages, but also a pity, and it is not the reason why we value territory." And to protect sea rights." The Christian Monitor in the United States reported that "Commander Wu" (Wu Jingrong) of the Qing Task Force recommended that the court immigrate to all habitable South China Sea islands as soon as possible. China and Japan finally signed a treaty on the Dongsha issue on October 11, 1909, which clarified that the Dongsha Islands were China's inherent territory, and the Japanese immediately withdrew; China purchased the existing facilities on the island for 160,000 yuan of Guangdong silver. At the same time, the Japanese Compensation for back payment of various taxes and damage to temple property totaled 30,000 Guangdong cents.

In 1911, the Revolution of 1911 broke out. The destroyer Feiying was commanded by Lin Songzhuang, a native of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, who was the fifth commander after Liu Guanxiong, Huang Zhongying, Lin Jianzhang, and Yang Jingxiu. It participated in the naval uprising on the Zhenjiang River in Jiangsu Province on November 2, and competed with Armstrong's torpedo gunboat "Flying Ting" Together they headed towards the Republic of China.

In early 1913, Sun Yat-sen, led by the dismissal of Jiangxi Governor Li Liejun and others, launched the Northern Expedition against Yuan in Hukou, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places, marking the beginning of the civil war in the Republic of China. Yuan Shikai ordered Feng Guozhang and other troops to move south, while Liu Guanxiong led a naval fleet to suppress it. The "Flying Eagle" ship was originally stationed in the north. At the beginning of the year, more than a thousand soldiers of the disbanded foreign troops from the People's Republic of China broke out in Yantai to cause trouble. At that time, the market situation in Yantai was very critical. At the same time, officers and soldiers were sent ashore to assist the Yantai Naval Training Camp and the Shandong Army to calm down the incident. Afterwards, the then "Flying Eagle" captain Chen Pengxiang (the third since the late Qing Dynasty) was awarded the Navy's first-class golden medal. Other gunnery officers Yang Junsheng, torpedo officer Ye Baojun, main gunnery officer Bian Gao Dazhi, and deputy gunnery officer Bian who had made great achievements in suppressing the bombing ashore Chen Xiangrui, Tian Lifa, Yang Chengfan and other officers and soldiers were also awarded medals respectively.

On August 4, 1917, the destroyer Eagle joined the Guardian Fleet.

In May 1918, Sun Yat-sen was expelled from Guangdong and Guangxi by the Guangxi clique warlords on the grounds of reorganizing the military government organization, and the guardian fleet officially returned to the Guangxi clique.

On June 19, 1924, some sailors of the destroyer USS Flying Eagle had a conflict with a group of gamblers in Xinzhou, Henan, Guangzhou for some reason. The sailors were beaten and suffered a loss. After escaping back to the ship, they suddenly used naval guns. The shelling of neighborhoods in Xinzhou aroused strong public outrage.

On September 28, 1927, the destroyer USS Flying Eagle once used artillery fire to support the landing of the navy and army troops of Guangdong Province and attacked the August 1st Rebel Army, but was defeated due to outnumbered forces.

In 1932, due to the internal conflicts of the Guangdong Clique, Chen Ce, the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Navy, ordered all ships to sail to Hainan Island. On July 6, Chen Jitang, the leader of the Cantonese Clique, ordered the Guangdong Air Force aircraft to take off from Leizhou to bomb Haikou. The destroyer USS Eagle was engaged in a battle between the sea and the air. The destroyer USS Flying Eagle was shot and hoisted a life-saving flag, indicating that it would not resist. However, because Chen Jitang had a reward of 200,000 yuan, the pilot still took the risk to fly at low altitude and drop the bomb. It was the first warship sunk by the Chinese Air Force.