Guangdong Fleet

The Guangdong Fleet was the smallest of China's four regional fleets during the second half of the nineteenth century. The fleet played virtually no part in the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885), but several of its ships saw action in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–5).

Composition

The composition of the Guangdong Fleet during the 1870s and early 1880s is difficult to establish. Vessels known to have served in Guangdong waters include (a) the British-built wooden gunboat "Anlan" ("An-lan", 安瀾); (b) the British-built gunboat "Feilong" ("Fei-lung", 飛龍), apparently purchased in 1867; (c) the flatiron gunboat "Haichangching" ("Hai-ch'ang-ch'ing"), built at the Canton Dockyard "c."1877; and (d) the steel Rendel gunboat "Zhenhai", built at Armstrong’s Mitchell Yard, Tyne, in 1881.

In the wake of the seizure of the citadel of Hanoi in April 1882 by Henri Rivière, the Qing government decided to send a message to France that China viewed French colonial expansion in Tonkin with concern. Two ships of the Fujian Fleet, "Feiyun" and "Ji'an", were accordingly seconded to the Guangdong Fleet. Used to patrol the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and 'show the flag', the two Fujian ships remained in service with the Guangdong Fleet until August 1884. They were sent back to Fuzhou on the eve of the Sino-French War, where they were destroyed along with seven other ships of the Fujian Fleet in the Battle of Fuzhou (23 August 1884).

The Sino-French War

Given Guangdong's proximity to Tonkin (northern Vietnam), where the main clashes in the Sino-French War took place, the Guangdong Fleet might have been expected to play a prominent part in the war. In fact it remained in harbour throughout the nine-month war. Zhang Zhidong, the governor-general of the two Guangs, attempted to block the entrance to the harbour of Guangzhou (Canton) even before the outbreak of the war, despite the protests of foreign consuls. Although Zhang returned the two Fujian ships seconded to the Guangdong Fleet in 1882, he declined to send any of the Guangdong ships to the assistance of the Fujian Fleet at Fuzhou in August 1884, ignoring the appeals for help of the Fujian military commissioner Zhang Peilun. [Rawlinson, "China's Struggle for Naval Development", 113–16]

Acquisitions, 1885–94

The Guangdong Fleet grew significantly during the second half of the 1880s, acquiring a force of gunboats and other ships. Most of these ships were built either at the Canton Dockyard or the Foochow Navy Yard, and nearly all bore the character "guang" (廣, for Guangdong) in their names. The first additions to the fleet were the gunboats "Guangheng", "Guangli", "Guangyuan" and "Guangzhen". These shallow draft gunboats, built at the Whampoa dockyard, were designed to guard the approaches to Canton. [Wright, "The Chinese Steam Navy", 69–70] One composite cruiser and three steel torpedo boats were built at the Foochow Navy Yard for the Guangdong Fleet between 1887 and 1892, named respectively "Guangjia", "Guangyi", "Guangbing" and "Guangding" ('Guangdong A, B, C and D'). [Wright, "The Chinese Steam Navy", 70–73] The Foochow Navy Yard also supplied the Guangdong Fleet with four wooden gunboats at about the same period: "Guangkeng", "Guangxing", "Guangzhen" and "Guangkuei". [Wright, "The Chinese Steam Navy", 70]

"Table 1: Acquisitions by the Guangdong Fleet, 1885–94"

Notes

References

* Loir, Maurice, "L'escadre de l'amiral Courbet" (Paris, 1886)
* Lung Chang [龍章] , "Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng" [越南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War] (Taipei, 1993)
* Rawlinson, John, "China's Struggle for Naval Development, 1839–1895" (Harvard, 1967)
* Wright, Richard, "The Chinese Steam Navy, 1862–1945" (London, 2001)

ee also

* Battle of Fuzhou
* Beiyang Fleet
* Fujian Fleet
* Nanyang Fleet