On the
memorable 17th of September, 1894, the battle of the Yalu was
fought, and so badly were the Chinese vessels hammered that the
Chinese navy, for the time being, was wiped out of existence.
From the start the advantage was with the Japanese fleet. In heavy
guns the Chinese were the better armed, but in quick-firing guns
the Japanese were vastly superior, and while the Chinese
battleships _Ting Yuen_ and _Chen Yuen_, each of 7,430 tons,
were superior to any of the Japanese warships, the three largest of
which were each of 4,277 tons, the gross tonnage of the Japanese
fleet was 36,000 to 21,000 of the Chinese. During the progress of
the battle the ships engaged on each side numbered an even dozen,
but at the very start, before a decisive shot was fired by either
contestant, the _Tsi Yuen_, 2,355 tons, and _Kwan Chiae_, 1,300
tons, ran away, and before they had time to get into the game the
_Chao Yung_ and _Yang Wei_ were in flames and had fled to the
nearest land. So the battle was fought by eight Chinese ships
against twelve of the Japanese. Of the Chinese vessels, the
flagship, commanded by Admiral Ting, and her sister ship, which
immediately after the beginning of the fight was for four hours
commanded by McGiffin, were the two chief aggressors, and in
consequence received the fire of the entire Japanese squadron.
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