Chinese gunboat Pingyuan

300px In the Japanese service, as Heien'
Career (China)	Beiyang Navy Ensign
Name:	Longwei Pingyuan
Builder:	Foochow Arsenal, Mawei, China
Laid down:	1 January 1883
Launched:	1888
Completed:	1890
Fate:	Captured by Japan, 1895
Career (Japan)	Japanese Navy Ensign
Name:	Ping Yuen Go Heien
Acquired:	27 July 1894
Fate:	Mined off Pigeon Bay (Piegen Bay) west of Port Arthur, 18 September 1904
General characteristics
Displacement:	2,150 long tons (2,185 t)
Length:	60.96 m (200 ft) w/l
Beam:	12.19 m (40 ft)
Draft:	4.19 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	2-shaft reciprocating triple expansion steam engine, 2,400 shp (1,790 kW) 2 boilers 350 tons coal
Speed:	10.5 knots (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h)
Complement:	202
Armament:	• 1 × 260 mm (10 in) gun • 2 × 150 mm (6 in) guns • 8 × machine guns • 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	• Belt: 203 mm (8 in) • Deck: 508 mm (20 in) • Turret: 127 mm (5 in)

The Pingyuan (Chinese:平远) was a Chinese armored coastal warship built by the Mawei Navy Yard, modelled on the French Acheron-class gunboat. The name is also spelled Ping Yuen, Ping Yuan or Ping-yüan. The Pingyuan was firstly named Longwei (Chinese:龙威), and was the first Chinese-built ironclad, though some of its components were imported from abroad. The Pingyuan was part of the Beiyang Fleet.

Career

The Pingyuan fought in the Battle of the Yalu River, damaging the Japanese flagship Matsushima, and was later captured in the siege of Weihaiwei. She was then commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy, firstly as the Ping Yuen Go and later the Heien.

File:Ping yuen.jpg

Ping Yuen

External links

• 平遠 (Chinese)
• 中華文史網 (Chinese)