Chinese cruiser Ying Swei

The Ying Swei was a protected cruiser in the training Chao Ho class originally built for the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Development
The Chao Ho class were part of a largely unrealized seven year modernization program by the Qing Dynasty's imperial regent Zaifeng, Prince Chun that would have ordered a number of modern battleships, cruisers, torpedo boats and submarines. The year after being laid down for the Imperial Chinese Navy, the 267-year reign of the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to an end when Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Xinhai Revolution forced the abdication of the child-emperor Puyi and created the Republic of China. The Ying Swei would spend the rest of her service with the Republic of China Navy.

The Chao Ho class cruisers were unusual in that all three semi-sister ships were built in different ship building yards, and although all three ships were built to the same basic design, they varied in size, armour and displacement, of which the Ying Swei was the shortest and smallest, and all three ships carried varied assortments of guns (as opposed to uniform main armament). These were done to increase the educational effectiveness of the ships, in order to familiarize their crews with various boiler and weapons systems.

The Ying Swei was laid down by Vickers Limited in Barrow-in-Furness in late 1910. She was launched 14 July 1911 and completed 2 December 1911. In 1913, after a long loan negotiation, she was delivered to China in April.

Design
The Ying Swei as mentioned, differed from her two sister ships. She was smaller than either the Chao Ho or the ex-Fei-Hung making her the smallest of her class. The Ying Swei was 2 foot 6 inches narrower in beam than the Chao Ho, and weighted 290 tons less. The Ying Swei's foremast was stepped further aft and her funnels were spaced wider. The Ying Swei had thinner armour (¾" compared to 2" on the main deck and 1¾" compared to 3" on her coning tower). The Chao Ho's primary armament were two QF 6 inch /40 naval guns which were mounted on the forecastle and poop. As a protected cruiser the Ying Swei did not have belt armor. The only armor was on her deck, guns and conning tower. The remaining artillery were placed on the main deck.

Service History
In 1920 the Ying Swei became part of a training squadron of ships based in Nanjing along with the unprotected training cruiser Tung Chi and the transport Ching An (formerly the Hamburg America Line transport Sikiang). Unlike her semi-sister ship, the Chao Ho, the Ying Swei's crew remained loyal to the Government of the Republic of China and did not defect to the Beiyang Government of Northern China in 1923. Although she was the newest cruiser in the Republic of China Navy, the Ying Swei did not participate in the bloody Northern Expedition against the warlords of the Beiyang Government until 14 March 1927 when she along with several other cruisers steamed into the newly captured city of Shanghai.

At the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War the Ying Swei had been moved to the 'Central Fleet' alongside the two newest cruisers in the Republic of China Navy, the Ning Hai, Ping Hai and the large gunboat I Hsien. The fleet was stationed at Jiangyin at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Starting 14 August 1937 Imperial Japanese Navy began a campaign of aerial bombardment against Jiangyin from the carriers Ryujo, Hosho and Kaga. The two new light cruisers where particularly targeted by the carrier-borne air attacks. Ping Hai was sunk first on 23 September, followed by Ning Hai on the 25th. I Hsien (also known in Cantonese as the Yat Sen) was sunk on the 26th after expending her entire supply of anti-aircraft ammunition. Ying Swei was the last of the Central Fleet and had been damaged from the aerial bombardment when it was decided that she should retire to Nanjing. By mid-October the entire Central Fleet had been sunk by Japanese aircraft leaving the Ying Swei the sole ship of the fleet. It was then decided that the Ying Swei's naval artillery would be better used as shore batteries. Starting in September, Nanjing was subject to heavy aerial bombardment by the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 24 October 1937 while her cannons were being removed she was attacked by Japanese dive-bombers and sunk the following day before her artillery could be completely removed.