 Zhenyuan, following capture by the Imperial Japanese Navy at Weihaiwei
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| History | |
|---|---|
 China | |
| Name | Zhenyuan |
| Namesake | "Striking from afar" |
| Ordered | 1881 |
| Builder | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Laid down | March 1882 |
| Launched | 28 November 1882 |
| Completed | April 1884 |
| Commissioned | November 1885 |
| Fate | Seized as a war prize, 17 February 1895 |
 Japan | |
| Acquired | 17 February 1895 |
| Commissioned | 16 March 1895 |
| Decommissioned | April 1911 |
| Renamed | Chin Yen |
| Fate | Broken up, 1912 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Dingyuan-class ironclad |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 308 ft (94 m) |
| Beam | 59 ft (18 m) |
| Draft | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 15.4 knots (28.5 km/h; 17.7 mph) |
| Range | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 350 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
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| General characteristics In Japanese service | |
| Installed power | 6,200 ihp (4,600 kW) |
| Speed | 14.5 kn (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) |
| Complement | 250 |
| Armament |
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Zhenyuan (Chinese: 鎮遠; pinyin: Zhènyuǎn; Wade–Giles: Chen Yuen) was an ironclad battleship built for the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. She was the second and final member of the Dingyuan class, which included one other vessel, Dingyuan, both of which were built in Germany in the early 1880s. Delivery of the two ironclads was delayed by the Sino-French War of 1884–1885. The ships were armed with a main battery of four 12 in (305 mm) guns in a pair of gun turrets, making them the most powerful warships in East Asian waters at the time.
In the 1880s and early 1890s, the Beiyang Fleet conducted a routine of training exercises and cruises abroad, with emphasis placed on visits to Japan to intimidate the country. The latter resulted in the Nagasaki Incident in 1886 and contributed to a rise in hostility between the two countries that culminated in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. She saw action at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September, where the Japanese Combined Fleet sank much of the Beiyang Fleet, though both Zhenyuan and Dingyuan survived despite numerous hits. The survivors then retreated to Port Arthur for repairs, but after that city was threatened by the Japanese army, fled to Weihaiwei. While entering the port, Zhenyuan struck an uncharted rock and was badly damaged; she was used as a stationary artillery battery during the Battle of Weihaiwei in February 1895, but Japanese forces captured the city's fortifications, which forced the Chinese to surrender the fleet.
Zhenyuan was seized as a war prize, repaired, and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as Chin Yen. She frequently toured Japan in the late 1890s and early 1900s to celebrate Japan's victory over China. Obsolescent by the time of the Russo-Japanese War, she nevertheless saw action at the Battle of the Yellow Sea in August 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. She also supported the invasion of Sakhalin in July 1905. After the war, Chin Yen became a training ship, serving in that role until 1911, thereafter being sold to ship breakers in 1912.