Introduce the Sino-Japanese War.

The naval battle in the Yellow Sea is a battle-scale naval battle between the two navies in the northern part of the Yellow Sea during the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Also known as the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Dadonggou naval battle. The defeat of Beiyang Navy retreated to Ahava, which made the control of the Yellow Sea fall into the hands of the Japanese joint fleet and decided the defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese War.

Background of naval battle

From 65438 to 0894, the Qing navy was divided into four naval fleets: Beiyang, Nanyang, Fujian and Guangdong. Among them, Beiyang Navy is the most powerful. Except for three small cruisers of Guangdong Navy stranded in Beiyang to participate in the naval battle, other naval divisions did nothing in wartime because of their weak strength, and sat idly by while Beiyang Navy collapsed.

On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese naval fleets were reorganized into a joint fleet, with Lieutenant General Ito Sukehiro as the commander of the joint fleet. The formation of the joint fleet is divided into the following teams: the first team, the second team, the first guerrilla and the second guerrilla.

1On July 25th, 894, the First Guerrilla of Japan's United Fleet suddenly attacked two cruisers, the Beiyang Navy "Jiyuan" and "Guang Jia", namely the Battle of Toyota, and the Sino-Japanese War broke out. The Beiyang navy and the joint fleet are faced with the same task: escorting reinforcements and competing for the sea control right in the waters near the Korean peninsula.

Beiyang Navy mainly cruised from Weihai to the mouth of Datong River. On August 10, the Japanese joint fleet approached Weihai. Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty accused Ding, the prefect of Beiyang Navy, of being "timid", and Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, had to order Ding to cruise in the Yellow Sea to calm the emperor's anger and relieve the pressure of public opinion. On September 12, the capital ship of Beiyang Navy 12 set off from Weihai and went to Dadonggou at the mouth of Yalu River to escort troops to land.

Different from the Beiyang Navy's strategy of "protecting ships against the enemy", the Japanese Navy made a clear plan to seize the sea power by fleet decisive battle before the war. When the Japanese joint fleet escorted reinforcements to Incheon, on September 13, the joint fleet and the team of the First Guerrilla went to the Yalu River mouth to search for a decisive battle with the main force of Beiyang Navy.

After the naval battle

1894 15 In September, the main force of Beiyang Navy, led by Ding, escorted 4,000 people from five troop carriers to Dalian Bay.

September 16

Beiyang Navy arrived at Dadonggou at the mouth of Yalu River. Some ships are on alert, and the rest 10 capital ships are moored at the southeast of Dalu Island outside the port 12 nautical miles.

September 65438, 2007

At 8 o'clock, the troop transport ship was unloaded. At 9 o'clock, the Beiyang Navy fleet set sail for Cao.

10: 23, the first guerrilla of the joint fleet discovered the Beiyang Navy. Send a signal that "more than three enemy ships have been found in the northeast."

10: 30, the sentry on the mast of Zhenyuan ship of Beiyang Navy discovered the Japanese fleet.

12: 05, the first guerrilla of the joint fleet was first, and our team was behind, in a single vertical array, close to Beiyang Navy.

12: 20, Beiyang navy changed from a double longitudinal array to a horizontal array, with the flagship Dingyuan as the center, and other ships deployed on the left and right in turn, and the fleet was in a wedge echelon. At the same time, Ding also issued an order: "All teams must act in unison; Always face the enemy with the bow; Ships should follow the flagship as much as possible. 」

Almost all the main ships of the two countries are concentrated in the waters near the mouth of the Yalu River and Dalu Island.

12: 50, the two fleets are 5300 meters apart, and the flagship of Beiyang Navy will fire first. The first guerrilla of the joint fleet turned left 5000 meters away from Beiyang Navy and headed for the right wing of Beiyang Navy. The joint fleet sailed to the right wing of Beiyang Navy, risking the fleet being exposed to Beiyang Navy.

12: 53, the flagship of the joint fleet, Matsushima, began to fight back. The main mast of Dingyuan was shot, and the signal rigging was destroyed by gunfire (it is said that the flying bridge collapsed when the warship was old and fired), and Ding, who was supervising the war on the flying bridge, was seriously injured.

Since then, Beiyang Navy ships have lost their command except for advancing and retreating with Dingyuan.

13 or so, the First Guerrilla shelled the right-wing tidal ship and the foreign-tailed ship of Beiyang Navy.

13: 20, Beiyang navy caught fire. Bi Rui, Fusang and Chicheng, where the speed of the joint fleet was slow, became the targets of Beiyang Navy. Bi Rui and Chi Cheng were seriously injured. The first guerrilla turned left and rescued two ships. Our team turned right to form a flank formation.

14: 20, the Japanese ship Xijing Maru was shot and withdrew from the battlefield. The Beiyang Navy was super brave and sank. Yang Wei was seriously injured and left the battlefield and ran aground (it was recorded that he was sunk by Jiyuan in the shallow sea).

14: 30, the Beiyang Navy's Pingyuan collided with the Japanese warship Matsushima (the legal Japanese warship Matsushima, which was the flagship of the Japanese joint fleet in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895), and was also injured by it and caused a fire, so it temporarily retreated.

15: 04, Beiyang navy flagship Dingyuan was shot and caught fire.

15: 20, the first guerrilla group concentrated on attacking Beiyang navy Zhiyuan. Zhiyuan (Deng Shichang) sank. Jiyuan and Guang Jia sailed straight back to Lushun after the sinking of Zhiyuan (Guang Jia ran aground on the way and was destroyed by a Japanese ship two days later). Beiyang navy has been unable to maintain the battle formation.

15: 30, the flagship of the joint fleet, Matsushima, was hit, causing the ammunition piled up on the deck to explode.

16:08 10, Jingyuan and Laiyuan, officers of Beiyang Navy, were injured and retreated to Dalu Island. The flagship of the joint fleet, Matsushima, issued a signal of "all ships move voluntarily".

/kloc-around 0/7: 00, Beiyang navy divisions Jingyuan and Laiyuan recovered their combat effectiveness after emergency repairs. Jingyuan raised the team flag instead of the flagship and assembled the ships.

17: 30, Beiyang Navy sank in Jingyuan (Lin Yongsheng). The joint fleet signaled "stop fighting" and left the battle. (end of naval battle)

The result of naval battle

The naval battle in the Yellow Sea lasted more than five hours. Beiyang Navy lost five warships, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei and Guang Jia, and was seriously injured in Laiyuan, killing more than a thousand officers and men. Japanese fleets Matsushima, Yoshino, Bi Rui, Chicheng and Xijing Maru were seriously injured, and more than 600 officers and men were killed.

After the Yellow Sea naval battle, Beiyang Navy returned to Lushun and Weihai, and "avoiding the war and protecting the ship" no longer went out. The Japanese navy has mastered the sea power of the Yellow Sea.

Battle sequence between the two sides

Joint fleet ship

The first guerrilla group

Cruisers: Yoshino (the flagship of Major General Hirai Hangsan, commander of the First Guerrilla, and the original captain of Dazu River), Su Lang (the captain of Dazu Tougou Heihachirou), Takahashi (the captain of Dazu Nomura), and jinzhou area (the captain of the city of Yamanaka Uemura).

Our team

Cruisers: Matsushima (vice admiral's flagship, commander of the joint fleet, known by Captain Jing Daole Sakuramoto), Iwashima (Captain Jing Daole Yokoo), Hashimoto (Captain Jing Daole Rilong), Birui (Captain Akio Shaosakurai) and Chiyoda (Captain Masami Jing Daole Uchida).

Old-fashioned armored ship: Fusang (mastered by Captain Nobui)

Gunboat: Chicheng; Armored merchant ship (instead of cruiser): Xijing Maru (the ship of Japan's naval minister Uji Huashan)

Beiyang navy ship

Armored ships: Dingyuan (the flagship of Beiyang Navy's prefect Ding and the right-wing prefect Liu) and Zhenyuan (the left-wing prefect Lin Taizeng).

Cruisers: Laiyuan (Assistant Commander Qiu Baoren), Jingyuan (Assistant Commander), Zhiyuan (Assistant Commander Deng Shichang), Jingyuan (Assistant Commander), Jiyuan (Assistant Commander), Chaoyong (Assistant Commander Lin), etc.

Gunboats: south of town, middle of town.

Torpedo boats: Long Fu, left team 1, right team 2 and right team 3.

The influence of naval battle

The naval battle in the Yellow Sea is a large-scale naval fleet decisive battle after the navy developed to the era of armored ships, which has been highly valued by naval personnel all over the world.

The two armored ships of Beiyang Navy showed the superiority of defense capability, and none of the heavy armor was penetrated. Warships are still the irreplaceable main ships in the navy. Relatively speaking, small warships equipped with heavy guns are not effective in naval battles.

Beiyang navy has an advantage in large caliber artillery, but its firing rate is low. All the main ships of the joint fleet are equipped with medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, which make up for the shortage of large-caliber guns through the intensive firepower of rapid-fire guns. It has a great impact on the development of naval equipment at the end of 19. After this campaign, the warships designed by the navies of various countries attach importance to improving the firing rate of large-caliber guns and strengthening the firepower of medium-caliber rapid-fire guns.

The two sides chose different formations in the naval battle. The joint fleet adopts a single longitudinal array and cooperates well. The ships of Beiyang Navy are all aimed at the enemy, because they are aimed at different warships, and the chaotic formation leads to the situation of fighting in isolation. The conclusion drawn by navies of various countries is that the most important thing in naval warfare is the neatness and coordination of formation; Vertical arrangement is more suitable for developing firepower than horizontal arrangement.

The joint fleet has the advantage of maneuverability in naval battle. The speed of the first guerrilla formation reached 15 nautical miles, and it advanced and retreated freely in the naval battle, and always held the initiative in choosing the attack target and opportunity.

The debate about Fang Boqian.

After the Yellow Sea naval battle, on August 24th, Fang Boqian, the management belt of Jiyuan Ship, was beheaded on the charge of "getting cold feet and leading the ship into an insurrection".

There is still controversy about Fang Boqian's evaluation. Since 1990s, Fujian, Fang Boqian's hometown, has set off an upsurge of reversing Fang Boqian's conviction. It is worth noting that scholars who study Beiyang Navy and the history of the Sino-Japanese War outside Fujian Province show cautious silence. Many famous scholars believe that the existing historical materials are not enough to reverse the case.

One hundred years ago, China once had the first modern fleet in Asia and the seventh in the world, but it was defeated by the Japanese. I analyze this period of history from the perspective of a military fan and a historical fan, which may have profound reference significance for us today.

When it comes to the Sino-Japanese War, we have to talk about Li Hongzhang and his "Westernization Movement" first. Beiyang Navy was built by Li Hongzhang with hundreds of millions of dollars after decades of painstaking efforts, which can be said to be the greatest achievement of the Westernization Movement. The original intention of "Westernization Movement" was to "learn from foreigners to control foreigners", but it ended because of its own limitations and the corruption and backwardness of the Qing Dynasty. In any case, the Westernization Movement was the first reform and opening-up in modern China, and it was a fact that it trained many talents for China. It is not an exaggeration to call Li Hongzhang the first person to reform in modern China. After all, the total tonnage of Beiyang Navy ranked seventh among the world's naval powers at that time, Zhenyuan and Dingyuan were even called "the first ship in Asia", and they were all English-practicing navies.

So why did this modern navy, the seventh in the world and the first in Asia, fail miserably? Say the general is mediocre? Absolutely not. Liu Buzhan, Deng Shichang and many other captains have studied in Britain. They were the first captains in China to return from England. They let European countries know China again. Their professional level is certainly not low, and they all have the heart to serve the country. They are indomitable and absolutely excellent generals. Think that soldiers are not brave and have low quality? Not exactly. Even opponents admit that Shimizu soldiers are braver than Japan in fighting, saying that the artillery fire is fierce and accurate. So what is the reason? It also lies in Li Hongzhang, who founded the Beiyang Navy. Li Hongzhang wanted to "control foreigners with barbarians", which not only used the internal contradictions of foreigners to contain foreigners, but also fantasized about countries mediating the contradictions between China and Japan and "defeating the enemy without fighting". However, he never imagined that although the powers had contradictions, they were consistent on the issue of aggression against China, and their connivance made Japan more arrogant and daring. Moreover, the powers used their privileges in China to provide all kinds of information for Japan, which is one of the reasons why the initiative in the battlefield fell into the hands of the Japanese, and the Qing army was passive everywhere. Secondly, in order to please foreigners, Beiyang Navy bought a large number of munitions from foreign powers, and Jiangnan Machinery Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang could manufacture all kinds of shells needed by Beiyang Navy, but all kinds of shells used by Beiyang Navy were imported, and these imported shells were fake and inferior products of American speculators. According to Japanese historical records, nearly two-thirds of the shells that the Qing army hit Japanese ships in the Sino-Japanese War did not explode, which is enough to show the poor quality of these shells. Moreover, at that time, the Japanese Navy's No.2 passenger ship "Matsushimamaru" was hit by a bright torpedo, but it did not explode. It was these fake and inferior products that eventually led to the failure of the naval battle. The third is the lack of maintenance funds. Beiyang navy is a huge modern navy, and its expenditure is huge. It takes hundreds of thousands of silver to go to sea at a time, and the normal expenses reach several million a year, which is really beyond the capacity of the declining giant of the Qing Dynasty. In the decades before the war, Beiyang Navy did not acquire new ships, and the active ships were not well renovated. Li Ben Hongzhang ordered two new cruisers from England, but he couldn't afford them and watched them be bought back by Japan. These two ships are the Yoshino and Qiu jinzhou area, which collided with many ships in the Sino-Japanese War. I finally got 800,000 taels of silver and wanted to buy a batch of new fast guns and boilers to renovate the aging capital ship, but I never thought about Cixi's eightieth birthday. As a result, I became Zhou Shi in the back garden of Cixi. Compared with the old ships in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the new ships gained the upper hand, which finally made the Qing Dynasty suffer the consequences.

1894- 1895 In the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, the Beiyang Navy was sunk by six warships, which was half of the strength of the Beiyang Navy, and none of the Japanese ships sank. Judging from the sinking rate, Beiyang Navy was a fiasco. However, all Japanese ships suffered heavy losses, such as the Yoshino, all of which were destroyed above the deck. In fact, they were destroyed by shells. As usual, the Yoshino was hit by such a large number of shells and had already sunk. It is conceivable how high the shelling hit rate of Beiyang Navy is. For a long time, Japan did not have an available warship, so that there was no armored ship when it landed in Liaodong Peninsula. If the Beiyang navy can attack with Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships, let alone sink all its fleets, it can sink even if it collides with a plane. Unfortunately, Li Hongzhang was so frightened that he was strictly forbidden to play. As a result, he was trapped in a dead port and sunk by his own heavy artillery. The Japanese navy has always regarded Zhenyuan and Dingyuan as eyesores, and transformed many warships for Zhenyuan and Dingyuan. 1894- 1895 In the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1895, the Japanese navy failed to sink two ships and lost its combat effectiveness. In this sense, Japan failed. There is another detail in the Sino-Japanese naval battle, that is, the Japanese fleet withdrew from the battlefield before the Beiyang Navy, because the two ships "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" became more and more brave, and the Beiyang Navy's torpedo boats were eyeing, forcing the Japanese fleet to evacuate. In all fairness, the Sino-Japanese War ended in a draw.

The Sino-Japanese War had a far-reaching impact on history. A naval battle determines the outcome of a war and the fate of a country. Since then, China has entered the semi-colonial and semi-feudal abyss, while Japan has developed rapidly and become a war planning place. And Li Hongzhang has also become a "traitor", and history is so ruthless. How many times have I lamented that if the shells hit Japanese ships were more powerful 1/2, if those torpedoes were effective, the course of the war might be changed and history would be rewritten, but history is history. But looking back today, even if we won the Sino-Japanese War in the Qing Dynasty, what would be the result? The failure of the Sino-Japanese War was due to the incompetence and corruption of the Qing Dynasty. A war will never change the decay of the Qing dynasty, and at most there will be only one more Russia. I can't help thinking about it. Yes, without the support of strong national strength, even with a huge navy, wouldn't it be useless? Just like a fallen seed, there will be no result without a root, and this root is a powerful China.

Looking back on the war a hundred years ago is also of profound significance to us now. National defense cannot be divorced from the national economy. Modern national defense, in particular, is absolutely impossible without a solid economic foundation. It is impossible for national defense to surpass the scientific and technological level of the country, because the backwardness of technical support does not mean cutting the bottom of the barrel, and even the most advanced weapons are just a pile of scrap iron without high-quality people. Besides, no one will sell you the most advanced weapons.

China's twenty years of reform and opening up have made great progress in China's economy, science and technology, and made a qualitative leap in national defense. However, we must be soberly aware that we are still far from the developed countries and we can't afford to fight. However, look around: the problems in Taiwan Province Province are getting worse and worse, and the arrogance of Taiwan independence elements is getting more and more arrogant; Japan is still ambitious; India is aggressive; Territorial disputes continue; The United States is interfering unreasonably ... China is facing the threat of war more than before! Now China needs more development time, and China needs peace and development, because China started late. China still needs 20 years of development. With the current development of China, China's economic strength can reach the level of developed countries in Europe, even the United States. However, this does not mean that China has the strength to fully compete with the United States. Twenty years' development will bring China a more stable living space, and I believe the problem of Taiwan Province Province will be solved by then. In other words, use strength for time, and then use time to accumulate stronger strength. War is not the only way to solve the problem. Maybe the economy is a better way. Japan has used the economy as a weapon to achieve the goal that cannot be achieved by force, which should arouse our more attention. I hate Japan very much and think that the Yamato people are the worst people in the world, but the post-war development of Japan makes me have to carefully examine and pay attention. I think the biggest threats to China are Japanese and Indian (this is the result of comprehensive history, region and culture. However, today's India is actually a "Qing Dynasty", a backward country whose national defense exceeds that of the whole country, and will eventually be dragged down by the war monster raised by itself, but we must be wary of India's desperate efforts. Japan will be our biggest competitor. So we must learn from Japan. I think we should take the essence and discard the dross. Some people say that there is nothing to learn in Japan, but it is not. Scientific research in Japan is very developed. The Japanese government invests 20 million dollars in four research projects every year, each lasting for five years, which means there are 20 research projects every year. These projects are basic and forward-looking. Now many of our well-known technologies were developed by Japanese researchers twenty or thirty years ago, and then they were industrialized in twenty or thirty years. For example, the most popular "nano" was first put forward by Japan in the 1980s, and even the word was coined by the Japanese, while the United States started again in the late 1990s. Now, Japan is in a leading position in the field of nanotechnology. It is with such technical strength that Japan can achieve rapid development, constantly promote high technology and promote enterprise development. For us, what we lack most now is basic research, such as nanotechnology. The United States, Japan and other countries are conducting extensive theoretical research in various fields. For example, the United States has made great efforts in the field of nanoelectronics, and Japan has also made great efforts in the application of nanotechnology. However, China has only done some research on nanomaterials, which is not only too narrow, but also too utilitarian. If we go on like this, we will fall behind in this field. But then again, such basic research will cost a lot of money, and it is unrealistic without strong economic support. So we want to develop, we need peace! We need time! ! !

China doesn't need war, but China is never afraid of the war imposed on itself. Today we have a strong navy and a strong motherland. A century of humiliation has become history and the dream of the century-a powerful China stands in the east of the world. May our great motherland become stronger and stronger.