 Yangwei under construction in Newcastle Upon Tyne
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Imperial China | |
| Name | Yangwei |
| Ordered | 1879 |
| Builder | Charles Mitchell & Company, Newcastle Upon Tyne |
| Laid down | 15 January 1880 |
| Launched | 29 January 1881 |
| Completed | 15 July 1881 |
| Commissioned | 22 November 1881 |
| Fate | Sank 18 September 1894 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Tsukushi-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 1,350 long tons (1,370 t) |
| Length | 220 ft (67 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draught | 15.5 ft (4.7 m) |
| Installed power | 2,580 indicated horsepower (1,920 kilowatts) |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 2 x Pinnaces |
| Complement | 140 |
| Armament |
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Yangwei (Chinese: 揚威; pinyin: Yangwei; Wade–Giles: Yang-wei; lit. 'Show of Force') was a cruiser built for the Imperial Chinese Navy. She was built by Charles Mitchell & Company in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, from a design by Sir George Wightwick Rendel which had already been used on the Chilean Navy vessel Arturo Prat (later the Imperial Japanese Navy's Tsukushi). Two ships were ordered by the Chinese, the Yangwei and the Chaoyong. Both would serve together throughout their careers, assigned to the Beiyang Fleet and based in Taku during the summer, and Chemulpo, Korea, in the winter.
Yangwei did not see any action during the Sino-French War, but in the First Sino-Japanese War, she was in the Chinese line at the Battle of Yalu River on 17 September 1894. She was set alight by combined fire from the Japanese fleet, and drifted south out of the battle until running aground on a reef. She was subsequently destroyed by a spar torpedo from a boat of the Japanese cruiser Chiyoda.