Chinese Navy of 1938

Hia Chi Light Cruiser

The Chinese Navy of 1937: the only two powerful and modern units in the fleet were ironically the two Ning Hai, built in Japan, in Harima and delivered in 1932, and the Ping Hai, built-in China at the Kiangnan arsenal, under Nippon supervision. But disagreements between the Chinese staff and management led to the repatriation of the Japanese, the construction thus entrusted to German engineers commissioned for the last modifications. For these reasons, this cruiser benefited from excellent German AA artillery and had diverging superstructure details. She was completed in 1936 and did not have enough time to train her crew. Both served as flagships of the Republic of China Navy (ROCN), with Ping Hai taking over the role from its older sister ship since April 1937. The ROCN had an ambitious plan to procure a larger and more-powerful command cruiser and then to reassign the two vessels as scouts/flagships of submarine flotillas, but the outbreak of war with Japan put an end to all related efforts (including the acquisition of submarines).

The Ning Hai class were a compact cruiser design, with the main armament of six 140 mm (5.5 in) guns in three twin turrets giving each ship the same broadside as the Japanese cruiser Yūbari at around half the cost. The lead ship of the class Ning Hai also had a small hangar for two single-seat floatplanes, a Japanese-built Aichi AB-3 and a similar aircraft of local design, the Naval Air Establishment Ning Hai.

The Ning Hai class did have a number of drawbacks. Their high centres of gravity, a common flaw to numerous Japanese-designed warships of the era, made the ships unstable in heavy seas. Their use of obsolescent triple-expansion engines, dictated by building cost considerations, kept their maximum speed at around 21–23 knots (39–43 km/h; 24–26 mph). Given the ships' primary role as coastal defence ships, these were probably acceptable trade-offs.

The first months of war between China and Japan in the fall of 1937 took place mostly on land and in the air. But the two nations’ navies also clashed in a fierce battle over the strategic city of Jiangyin on the Yangtze River. This is the second in a two-part series about this crucial, but forgotten the episode in the history of the Second Sino-Japanese War, involving vessels such as the Japanese ones pictured above, moored in Shanghai around the time of the outbreak of hostilities.

It wasn’t until the middle of autumn that war came to Jiangyin in a serious way. The first major air raid on the First Fleet took place on September 22, a full seven weeks before the fall of Shanghai and the start of the Nanjing campaign. On that day, 30 to 40 Japanese planes swooped down over the Chinese vessels, concentrating their fire on the Pinghai, Admiral Chen’s flagship. Liu Fu, a young officer onboard the cruiser saw the contours of the Japanese planes against the sky. Next, he saw small black dots detach themselves from their bellies. They were bombs. “Get down!” he shouted to the sailors around him.

He sensed a red flare, felt a violent jolt shake the entire body of the ship, and was knocked over by ear-splitting explosion. The Pinghai had taken a direct hit. He rose to inspect the damage when a new explosion tore into the vessel. A seriously injured gunner was leaning limply over his anti-aircraft gun. “I’m finished. I’m going to die,” he wailed. An older sailor looked at him unfeelingly. “You don’t have permission to die just yet,” he said. “Wait until the reinforcements are here.”

The Japanese raids continued over the next six hours. At the end of the day, the Pinghai looked like floating wreckage. The length of the hull was holed by enemy shrapnel, and the deck was covered with shards of broken glass, blood and gore. Chen Jiliang met with his staff at night. Some officers proposed cutting the losses and withdraw upriver to Nanjing. Chen ruled this out immediately. We stay and fight, he ordered.

The morning of the following day, September 23, passed in almost unbearable tension as the sailors scouted the horizon for any traces of Japanese planes. At 10:30 am two aircraft appeared in the distance. They seemed to be on a reconnaissance mission and soon vanished again. The actual attack didn’t happen until shortly after 2 pm. The first thing the Chinese sailors noticed was a group of about a dozen planes appearing over the southern horizon, heading north. They passed over the warships at a considerable height, without dropping any bombs. It was all a diversionary manoeuvre. Seconds afterwards, a larger force of low-flying planes appeared to the east over the Yangtze, swooped down over the First Fleet, and released their bombs.

This time, the Ninghai was the focus of Japanese attention. It suffered considerable damage and started to take in water. Teams of sailors worked frantically to repair the damage even as Japanese planes continued their attacks. After about 30 minutes, Chen Jiliang reversed his command from the night before and ordered the Pinghai to weigh anchor. The Ninghai was immobile, as an explosion had damaged it windlass, but eventually, the cruiser’s captain ordered the anchor chain cut, and the ship started steaming upriver.

Ping Hai Class Cruiser

For both cruisers, it was too late to escape. The Japanese planes continued their merciless attacks on the slow-moving vessels, causing horrific damage. An officer on the Ninghai was standing at his post on the navigation bridge when a piece of shrapnel tore his head open, spraying the room with his brains. Pinghai was sunk by Japanese bombs late on September 23, and Ninghai the day after. Both met their end in shallow water, their hulls sticking out of the Yangtze for months afterwards as a testimony to the Chinese defeat.

It was the brief, violent, sad end of the First Fleet. For some Chinese naval officers, it was too much to bear. When Hairong, an ageing German-built cruiser, was ordered scuttled near Jiangyin at the end of September, its captain Ouyang Jingxiu decided enough was enough. “Watching a large part of our ships go to the bottom of the river, taking all their weaponry with them, caused bigger pain for me than I could have possibly imagined,” he wrote in his memoirs. “I was already well advanced in my career, and I decided it was time to retire. That was the end of my decades spent in the service of our Navy.”

The IJN Destroys China's Fleet - August-September 1937 from Combinedfleet.com

20 September 1937:
Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Oikawa Koshiro, CinC, Third Fleet orders carrier KAGA (CarDiv 2 Rear Admiral Horie Rokuro) and land-based air of Rear Admiral Mitsunami Teizo's 2nd Combined Air Flotilla to destroy the Chinese fleet. Oikawa particularly calls for the destruction of PING HAI and NING HAI. The combined attack is to be launched in two days.

22 September 1937:
In the morning the combined Japanese assault to destroy the Chinese fleet begins with KAGA launching her strikes from a position off Hangchou Bay. At 1030 the first of three raids by 2nd Combined Air Flotilla's 12th Air Group (Captain Imamura Osamu) falls upon the ships. Twelve Type 92 escorted by six Type 95 attack first. They make bomb runs, concentrating on the two big cruisers; but only score one hit on each and one near-miss with 60kg bombs. Flagship PING HAI is hit forward on the starboard side, causing slight flooding, but her captain Gao Xianshen is badly wounded in the waist and left arm, but continues to fight his ship until relieved. NING HAI receives one hit in the bow. YIXIAN is also hit.
At noon, another wave of Japanese bombers comes in from the west and drops bombs from moderate altitude. This causes minor damage to PING HAI. But during the afternoon seven Type 96 from KAGA attack, scoring near-misses on both cruisers and one direct hit on PING HAI at 1630. One hour later the last attack of the day is made by six Type 92 and three Type 95s of the 12th Air Group, which driven away by NING HAI's gunfire, concentrate instead on YING RUI, scoring four hits. Five Japanese a/c are hit by AA-fire. Despite six hours of combat, PING HAI's casualties are light; 5 killed and 23 wounded. In this action, PING HAI fires 265 8-cm rounds and more than 4,000 mg bullets. PING HAI claims five Japanese aircraft shot down. The attacks for the day are over, and the Chinese Fleet survives the first round of attacks. But none can doubt that the next day would bring another.

23 September 1937:
The Japanese follow-up raid takes its time in coming. Morning brought no air raid, but at 1100 two Japanese recon planes are sighted overflying the Chinese fleet. They depart after about a half-hour. It is obvious that a large scale Japanese air attack will be inbound at last. All hands clear for action.
At 1400, the expected attack arrives overhead in the form of nine Type 92 escorted by three Type 95 from 12th Air Group. However, they did not attack the ships but instead descended upon Jiangyin, bombing to draw the fire of the defences while the second wave hit the ships. This was comprised of twelve Type 94 of the 12th Air Group and now joined by fourteen Type 96 of the 13th Air Group (Captain Senda Sadatochi.) These score two hits each and several near-misses on both PING HAI and NING HAI. The last attack is made by eight type 94 bombers and eight Type 96 carrier attack bombers escorted by four Type 96 fighters from KAGA. These attack in two waves and went after the primary target, the First Fleet flagship PING HAI. They scored three hits with 60kg bombs in the engine room and magazine. This was more than the modest vessel could withstand; PING HAI settles by the bow and heeling over, bottoms with steep 45-degree port list and forecastle awash. Reportedly just 5 were killed, with 50 wounded (remark: but suspiciously, NING HAI also lists 5 killed). Four Japanese aircraft are claimed shot down in turn.

Ning Hai Class Cruiser

With PING HAI down, the Japanese swarm over her cousin ship NING HAI. At 1400, as many as thirty-eight planes pounce on the small cruiser from three directions. She receives two hits on the bow and observation post and several near-misses. Captain Chen Hongtai is wounded in the legs, but remains at post, and gets his ship underway despite a magazine flooded. NING HAI moves upstream away from her stranded sister, but she doesn't get very far before has to halt. NING HAI had suffered 62 casualties of dead and injured, and had fired more than 700 rounds of her 8-cm and 5,000 rounds of mg bullets. Following the loss of PING HAI, the injured CinC transfers his flag to YIXIAN (western YI HSIEN or YAT SEN)

25 September 1937:
The hapless NING HAI outlasts her sister by only forty-eight hours. Six Type 92 carrier attack bombers with three Type 95 fighters from the 12th Air Group make another attack on the Koin area. Barely afloat, NING HAI is helpless and unable to move. Two 60kg direct hits and two near-misses are scored on the cruiser. This does for her, and listing slightly to starboard, she settles by the stern 'til she bottoms upright near Bawei Harbor with after deck submerged to the mainmast and base of the stack. Her starboard beam parallels the nearby shore. Fortunately, only five were wounded. Attacked by sixteen planes from KAGA, Chen’s new flagship, YIXIAN also goes down. Beached in very shallow water, YIXIAN flops onto her port side and settles with stern submerged and prow raised with a loss of 14 killed and 8 wounded. But the Japanese carrier lost two aircraft in exchange.
The Japanese had all but wiped out the Chinese fleet, but it was the Chinese themselves that complete the destruction. The same day NING HAI is finished off, four old cruisers are scuttled in the river: HAI CHI, HAI RONG, HAI CHOU and HAI CHEN. It had not been intended to sacrifice all four cruisers; however, incredibly, two of these had become blockships unwillingly. Considering the fierce fight he had put up personally and losing his best ships, First Fleet commander Chen Shaokuan demands that the other two cruisers not belonging to the Min be scuttled as well! This is reluctantly agreed upon and carried out. Before the ships are scuttled, some attempt is made that morning to remove some of HAI RONG and HAI CHI’s guns. Even hulks are put to use; at Humen, cruiser CHAO HO, its guns having been stripped to arm the Shajiao Fortress, is scuttled and capsizes onto her starboard side in shallow water. With this, the Chinese fleet perished.

5 December 1937:
In strange aftermath, the two Chinese cruisers both see new lives resurrected to serve their opponents. The Japanese army advancing on Nanking takes possession of the bottomed Chinese cruisers NING HAI and PING HAI, both sunk in shallow waters on the Yangtze near Koin. Both are subsequently closely inspected and deemed salvageable.

2 March 1938:
PING HAI is first brought upright and then refloated by the Japanese. Afterwards, with the top portion of her bridge and director removed, she is conveyed to Shanghai. Subsequently, the partly stripped cruiser is towed to Sasebo. The following month the Japanese made the first attempt to refloat her sister, NING HAI. However, two divers are killed working on the wreck and work delayed. Salvage soon resumes.

5 May 1938:
The wreck of NING HAI is successfully refloated, and when pumped out is found there is minimal water damage to her vitals. She is taken downstream to Shanghai's Kiangnan yard. Unlike PING HAI, the Japanese and Chinese work crews manage to make NING HAI seaworthy to steam on her own power.

3 June 1938:
NING HAI arrives at Aioi, Japan with a Japanese crew. There in Japan, she remains idle with her sister for five years. NING HAI and PING HAI Hai are now formally classified for Japanese service as coastal defence vessels, being re-named MIKURA and MISHIMA respectively; however, they remain idle at Aioi and Sasebo respectively 'til the changed war situation in 1943 compels their refitting as escorts YASOJIMA and ISOJIMA.

19 September 1944: ex Chinese Light Cruiser Ning Hai now named ISOJIMA/ISOSHIMA departs Yokosuka escorting a convoy of unidentified ships accompanied by several escorts.
85 nms from Hachiji Jima. At about 0553, LtCdr Lawrence V. Julihn’s USS SHAD (SS-235) fires four Mark-23 steam torpedoes and gets three hits on ISOJIMA. She sinks at 33-40N, 138-20E. LtCdr Hukuchi is KIA. Other losses are unknown.
SHAD endures a lengthy depth charging by the other escorts.

25 November 1944: ex Chinese Light Cruiser Ping Hai now YASOJIMA is near Santa Cruz Bay, N of Manila. YASOJIMA is steaming with second class transports T. 113, T. 142 and T. 161. At about 1400 local, the convoy is attacked by Grumman TBF "Avengers" of Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Frederick C. Sherman’s TG 38. 3 USS TICONDROGA (CV-14) and LANGLEY (CVL-27).
YASOJIMA is hit in the stern by a Mark-13 aerial torpedo dropped by a TBF of TICONDROGA's Torpedo Squadron 80 (VT-80). She sinks at 15-0N, 119-45E. LtCdr Matsumura and about 100 of his crewmen survive.