The Ping Hai (traditional Chinese: 平海 "Amicable Seas") was a light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 in the Chinese fleet before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the second ship of the Ning Hai class cruiser

Ning Hai class cruiser

The Ning Hai class were a pair of light cruisers in the Chinese fleet before World War II. Ning Hai , the lead ship of the class, was laid down in Japan while the follow-on, Ping Hai , was laid down in China and completed with Japanese assistance to a slightly modified design that...

. It was laid down in China to the specifications supplied by the Japanese, and Japanese advisors were hired to oversee the construction. Compared to its sister ship Ning Hai, it had a lower-output powerplant and lacked seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

 facilities. Its anti-aircraft armament was also different from that of its sister.

The progress of its construction was affected by the Mukden Incident

Mukden Incident

The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....

 (18 September 1931) and the January 28 Incident

January 28 Incident

The January 28 Incident was a short war between the armies of the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, before official hostilities of the Second Sino-Japanese War commenced in 1937.- Naming :...

 (28 January – 3 March 1932). Disruption of parts supply and non-cooperation of Japanese advisors delayed its launch date from the originally planned 10 October 1933 to 28 September 1935. Blocked delivery of originally-specified anti-aircraft weapons meant that equivalent replacements of those weapons had to be bought via Germany. When it was completed in 1936, official outbreak of war was barely a year away.

Service record

Ping Hai served as the flagship of the Republic of China Navy

Republic of China Navy

The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China . The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China...

 since April 1937.

As one of the most powerful surface combatants within the ROCN, Ping Hai was subjected to aerial attacks by the Imperial Japanese Navy since the Battle of Shanghai

Battle of Shanghai

The Battle of Shanghai, known in Chinese as Battle of Songhu, was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army of the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War...

, but it was not until September 23, during the Japanese assault on the Kiangyin Fortress (which guarded the segment of Yangtze River near Nanking), for Ping Hai to finally succumb with its sistership to airstrikes launched from both carrier Kaga

Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga

Kaga was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy , named after the former Kaga Province in present-day Ishikawa Prefecture...

 and airfields around occupied Shanghai.

It was then re-floated by the Japanese in 1938 as sunken ships would not be as badly corroded by river water as they would be by sea water. Originally it was to be transferred to the Collaborationist navy under Wang Jing-Wei, but the Japanese elected to seize it instead and outfitted it first as a barracks hulk and ultimately as escort ship Yasoshima on 10 June 1944.

External links

• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/exchina-cl.htm
• http://big5.chinabroadcast.cn/gate/big5/gb.cri.cn/3821/2004/08/26/151@280506.htm