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Haichen
Country | China |
Ship Class | Hairong-class Protected Cruiser |
Builder | Aktien-Gesellschaft Vulcan Stettin, Germany |
Laid Down | 12 Feb 1898 |
Sunk | 25 Aug 1937 |
Displacement | 2,680 tons standard; 2,950 tons full |
Length | 328 feet |
Beam | 41 feet |
Draft | 19 feet |
Machinery | Four coal boilers, two turbines, two shafts |
Bunkerage | 200-580 tons of coal |
Power Output | 7,500 shaft horsepower |
Speed | 19 knots |
Crew | 244 |
Armament | 3x150mm Krupp QF guns, 8x105mm Krupp QF guns, 1x60mm Krupp gun, 6x37mm Hotchkiss guns, 6x8mm Maxim machine guns, 3x360mm torpedo tubes |
Armor | 25-70mm deck, 51mm turret shields, 38mm conning tower |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseHaichen (sometimes romanized as Hai Shen) was built in Germany for the Chinese Navy at the cost of £163,000. In 1911, she was initially used to bombard revolutionary forces at Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, but would switch sides in Nov. Although she went through modernization in 1930, which added an anti-aircraft gun, by the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 she was obsolete, thus when the need rose to block the Yangtze River from Japanese use, Haichen became one of the older ships scuttled in the middle of the river at Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China for this purpose. She was salvaged by Communist China in 1960.
Last Major Revision: Aug 2012
Protected Cruiser Haichen Interactive Map
Photographs
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Haichen Operational Timeline
12 Feb 1898 | Haichen was launched by AG Vulcan in Germany. |
21 Sep 1898 | Haichen arrived at Tianjin, China. |
28 Oct 1911 | Haichen fired on revolutionary forces at Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. |
12 Nov 1911 | The crew of Haichen switched sides at Wuhan, Hubei Province, China during the revolutionary war, declaring support for the revolutionary forces. |
25 Aug 1937 | Chinese light cruisers Haiqi, Hairong, Haichen, and Haichou were sunk at the mouth of the Yangtze River at Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China, adding more obstacles to prevent Japanese navigation. |
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Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, Aug 1939