Chinese cruiser Ning Hai
Chinese cruiser Ning Hai in 1932
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History | |
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Republic of China | |
Name | Ning Hai |
Ordered | 1930 |
Builder | Harima Shipyards, Japan |
Laid down | 20 February 1931 |
Launched | 10 October 1931 |
Commissioned | 1 September 1932 |
Fate | Sunk 23 September 1937 by Japanese aircraft |
Empire of Japan | |
Name | Ioshima |
Acquired | 4 May 1938 |
Reclassified | kaibokan , 1 June 1944 |
Stricken | 10 November 1944 |
Fate | Sunk by submarine USS Shad, 19 September 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ning Hai-class cruiser |
Displacement | 2,526 t (2,486 long tons) |
Length | 360 ft (110 m) |
Beam | 39 ft (12 m) |
Draught | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
Propulsion | Three-shaft Reciprocating Engines; 4 coal/oil-fired boilers; 10,579 hp (7,889 kW) |
Speed | 23.2 knots (26.7 mph; 43.0 km/h) |
Range | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
Complement | 361 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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Aircraft carried | 2 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | Hangar and hoist crane |
Ning Hai (
Background
By the end of the 1920s, the ROCN had only four antiquated 19th century protected cruisers and two training cruisers received before World War I. The Kuomintang government had an ambitious re-armament plan but lacked funds, and after extensive negotiations with shipbuilders in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, placed an order with the Japanese for one light cruiser to be built in Japan, with a second vessel to be built in China with Japanese assistance. Despite the very strained political relations between Japan and China and the strenuous objections of the Japanese military, Harima Shipyards completed the first cruiser in 1932.
Design
Ning Hai was based on the experimental Japanese cruiser Yūbari, which combined a small size with heavy weaponry, but in an even smaller displacement of only 2,526 t (2,486 long tons). As with Yūbari, Ning Hai has a single trunked smokestack, and a tripod bridge arrangement. Her weaponry was comparable to ships with a larger displacement: six 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns mounted in three double gun turrets, six 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval guns, and dual 533-mm torpedo tubes. Ning Hai also had a small hangar for two seaplanes; two Aichi AB-3 biplanes, one bought from Japan and one built locally using a spare engine and domestic materials, were assigned to it. There was no aircraft catapult, and the seaplanes were hoisted onto and deployed using a crane.
However, the vessel was underpowered, with three antiquated vertical four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines, two of which were coal-fired, yielding a top speed of only 22 knots. The excessive top-weight of the design also created stability problems. Due to these issues, Ning Hai was suitable only for coastal operations against gunboats or smaller vessels.
Operational history
Ning Hai was
As one of the more powerful surface combatants within the small ROCN, following the start of the
An attempt to re-float Ning Hai by the Japanese in April, 1938 was unsuccessful with two salvage divers killed. An attempt on 4 May 1938 was successful, and the hulk was towed to Shanghai for basic repairs. Originally the Japanese planned for the vessel to be the flagship of the collaborationist navy established by the
In December 1943, with Japanese maritime traffic under increasing pressure from
Notes
References
- Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X.
- Cressman, Robert (2005). The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
- Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1.
- Jentsura, Hansgeorg (1976). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Lacroix, Eric & ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
- Tamura, Toshio (1984). "The Chinese Light Cruisers Ning Hai and Ping Hai (1930–1936)". Warship International. XXII (2): 118–131. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 1-55750-141-6.
External links
- http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/exchina-cl.htm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20100510015014/http://big5.chinabroadcast.cn/gate/big5/gb.cri.cn/3821/2004/08/26/[email protected]
- Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Allyn Nevitt. "Isojima Tabular Record of Movement".
- Nishida, Hiroshi. "Materials of IJN". Imperial Japanese Navy.