SEA PROTECTION

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 118, 14 November 1929, Page 17

SEA PROTECTION

CHINA TO BUILD NAVY BRITISH AID SOUGHT STAET. ALEEADY MADE (Copyright.) With the ; aid of a British Naval Mission, Nationalist China proposes to build and train a-new navy. With a population of more than 300,000,000 to draw upon, China will never lack for men to man her fleets. Her main difficulty now, as in the past, will be to get money with which to build ships, and to instil a morale in officers and men, wil^but which the modern ships mean little in. terms of effective. sea .power. The decisioa to employ British officers as tutors for Chinese seamen arrives at a time when Nationalist China has come to grips with Soviet Kussia in Manchuria. Even if it may be a long time before the Chinese navy beoomes a factor among the world sea Powers, the fact remains that those in charge of tho destinies of new China are bent, on rebuilding their country on Western lines. New fighting ships will symbolise the new China, which is throwing off the shackles of the past and emancipating itself from the domination of foreign Powers that goes back alniout to the first days of her contact with the West. . " MANY SEA TRADITIONS. The Chinese have many sea-going traditions. Centuries before tho Elizabethan sea dogs carried British standards qper and bey.ond the Spanish Main, Chinese seamen, in junks, had thoroughly explored tho waters of the Far East, Marco Polo, we are told, was carried by a Chinese junk to India, and tho trip in those days, without lighthouses and modern instruments of navigation, was assuredly a nautical achievement.

The Chinese are not strangers to battles on the sea. . Breaking in from the north, Kublai Khan founded the city of Peking in 1264, and then began a series of campaigns, aimed to bring all of- China under the Mongol yoke. By 1279 his armies had covered virtually the whole of China, arriving in that year before the gates of Canton, where the Sung dynasty prepared to make its last stand.

Even before he had finished his conquest of China, ' Kublai Khan had turned his eyes toward Japan. Unfortunately, from his point of view, 100 miles or more- of salt water separated Japan from the Asiatic mainland. Few of the Mongols^ an inland race, had ever seen the salt water, and their generals did not know just how to go about the expedition. Diplomacy failed to give him an opening, so,'like Philip 11. with his armada and Napoleon with his flat-bottomed craft, he found it necessary to start operations by first building his floating means of transport. He. relied a good deal on Chinese shipwrights, and the largest type of junk was-only capable of transporting 100 soldiers and crew.

About 1000 junks were ordered built, and when they were completed. Kublai Khan set for across the seas with an army of 50,000 men. The invaders were able to reach Japan, but gained little '.headway;., and later were "forced to re-embark. A gale then put the vessels of the fleet to. .rout, and the expedition returned to ;the mainland with. the. loss of'about 300 ships and

20,000 men killed in action or drowned.

In the early days of the opening of the Far East, China made a move toward the /creation of. a western navy. In the Tai Ping rebellion the central government realised that a modern fleet might" be useful. in bringing the rebels to terms. An Englishman, H. N./Lay, was entrusted with' the duty of buying a fleet.

Prince Kung represented China in the matter. He acted in a rather broadminded way. To give a commission, liko this to a foreigner was. in itself an evidence of confidence that scarcely had a-parallel in Chinese history unless we go back to the appointment of Marco Polo by Kublai Khan as governor ot Yang Cliou. But Prince Kung' did more than this. He gave Lay the authority to engage the personnel of the squadron, and to iix the salaries; in short, to run the whole show. -..'■'

Lay secured the services of Captain Sherard i>3b°rn,' and the two worked out an agreement by which the proposed squadron was to be given the name "The European-Chinese Fleet." Lay told Osborn that he was to be given entire control of the squadron, and of every vessel in the service of the Chinese Empire.- He was to obey orders from the Emperor only, Lay undertaking to be the channel of communication for such orders1 and pledging himself not to transmit any that did not meet with his approval.

LAUNCHED TWO-MAN NAVY. "

Osborn, as his part of this two-man navy, was to nominate all the- officers and pick the enlisted force, subject to the approval of Lay as "representative of the Emperor"; Lay and Osborn, furthermore, were to inquire into any complaints formulated by Chinese officials against the officers and . the men of the proposed Bquadron. Boing European, the fleet must by all means have a flag of European char ; acter to guarantee its efficiency and to assure to it the proper respect of the world. Therefore, Lay agreed.that there should be a greoii standard with two yellow lines and a. blue Imperial dragon in ' the middle. Trouble soon followed. The Chinese naturally wanted one of • their own countrymen... in supreme control. Osborn objected., The Chinese wanted the fleet-to serve at the seat of the war, where it was needed, under the supervision of the geuerals fightingithe-rebels. Lay objected to this. So the ebb. and flow of argument went merrily on between the Chinese and the two Britshers, Lay and Osborn. Finally "the whole plan collapsed and the two Englishmen went home. The "European-Chinese Navy" never even reached the blue print stage.

In 1886 a Naval Board was organised, British naval officers were employed, a naval school was established at Tientsin, and tho naval port at the Gulf of Chilli was fortified, the last job being mainly entrusted to German #ngineers. The Chinese then purchased some ships from Europe, the nucleus boing made up* of gunboats, broad beamed and flat bottomed, each carrying one heavy gin. The flotilla was called the alphabetical because they were named after the Greek alphabet. Two lines of battleships were later added, also several cruisers. This was known as the "Pen-yang Squadron," and was instructed by a competent British officer. Another fleet was, later, organised in the south, known as the Nan-Yang Squadron.

Before.the Chinese-Japanese War the total Chinese seagoing fleet consisted of about five armoured vessels, ten light.small cruisers, nine sloops or dispatch vessels, and thirty small torpedoboats. In addition there were some non-seagoing units. The two principal atnioured ships were the Ting-yuen and Chenyeun of 7430 tons, displacement. As was noted,, the Chinese Government stinie year,s'"before had obtained the .sorvices.-.ofja,staff officer of the British Navy, ■' Who 'assembled; 'under'.,hinv officers of;' the various- braric'h es^ of his own

service and a few Europeans and Americans.. Tho discipline was good, the training was conducted on scientific lines, and the administration was free from corruption. .'.'"■ SHU'S WELL NAMED. The ships were clean and smart-look-ing, and by going to sc-a constantly officers and:men were well acquainted with their duties. At Port Arthur the fleet had a headquarters base of great natural strength in a commanding strategic position. ' ' , 'Jealousy, however, had made itself felt some time before tho war. Gradually the position of the foreigners had becomo so difficult that the-.head of the mission threw up his command, and the commissioned officers of the British service followed their chief. A few foreigners of subordinate rank remained. Deterioration spread . through all blanches of the naval service. The administration became dishonest, and stores were rifled. Instead of spending money to keep the ships in good condition, high officers did not hesitate to put the money into their own pockets. Externally, however, the navy presented a good appearance. Even European naval observers were misled as to their true condition, though the Japanese intelligence service were aware of the facts. In thetest of war, .the Chinese Navy proved no match for Japan. The Battle of the Yalu was a decisive victory for Japan, and during the rest of the war the Chinese naval commanders did not dare to face the Japanese in the open sea. The Chinese fleet bad suffered losses, but most of the important vessels were able to seek shelter, where they remained a potential menace to the Japanese. The Japanese commanders then set as their next objective the capture of two Chinese naval bases, Port Arthur and Wei-Hai-Wei, and the destruction of the main Chinese fleet. After some efforts, Port Arthur fell, but Admiral Ting, the Chinese commander-in-chief, still commanded, two battleships, two armoured-cruisers, twelve light cruisers and sloops, fourteen torpedo-boats, and six gunboats. '■■ Most of the Chinese warships were sunk by the invaders' guns'in the harbour oV 'Wei-Hei-Wei, and when the fortress fell the Japanese received tho surrender of the rest of the Chinese-fleet. China's sea' power was in almost total eclipse. • '■>.'••. While the northern'fleet was facing the Japanese' squadron in a life-and-death struggle, the southern fleet was lying in the waters of the Yangtse,the viceroy at Nanking apparently thinking that as the Japanese had not attacked him there'was no reason why he should risk his ships. : ' :■ ■ China later' acquired afew fships, but her fleet did not compare in relative fighting.strength to that which Japan had disposed of: in 1895. An imperial edict of 15th July, 1909, created a 1 Naval and Military Advisory Board, and authorised an expenditure for fighting ships of more than £40,000,000. ORDERED CRUISERS IN 1910. In 1910 several cruisers were ordered abroad. After the loss of Port Arthur China possessed no dockyards that could take care, of ships of more than 3000 tons. Some time after, the ChineseJapanese War the Pekin Government established at Fuchdw a shipbuilding yard, placing it in charge of French engineers. Training-schools both for practical, navigation and languages were established at the same time. A training ship was selected and put under the command of a British officer. This dockyard at Fuchow built more than 200 -small vessels over a period of many years, but gradually the whole organisation sunk into decay. In 1909 it was without value, except for making minor repairs.

Through: the years the Chinese have found time and money to. acquire a "sizeable navy. Admiral "Yang Shu-ch-tfang. js the eommand.er-in-chief, with Admiral. Chan Chi-Hiang commanding the first squadron. The first squadron

boasts three cruisers, the Haiyung, Haiehen, and Haichow, all three built in 1898, and for their day were well-con-structed ships. v ' Nine gunboats round out the strength of the first squadron. The commander of the second squadron is Admiral Chen Shao-kwan. No cruisers are in this-squadron, which is made up of gunboats exclusively, some fifteen in number. Then there is a torpedoboat squadron under the command of Admiral Tseng Yi-ting. Besides nine small torpedo-boats and destroyers it includes four gunboats. In addition there is a training squadron, commanded by Admiral Chen Hsuechyung, with two training-ships, the Tungehi, built in 1895, and the Tingsui, a more modern vessel built in 1911, together with a small transport. Two gunboats are being converted into aeroplane carriers, showing the desire of the Chinese Admiralty to keep up with the times. They will be large enough to carry only two seaplanes apiece, with one 4in gun forward. The North-east-ern, Naval Squadron is under the command of Admiral Sheen Hung-lieh. It boasts a cruiser, the Haiehi; with two Bin guns, built in 1897, and the train-ing-ship Ching Ho,, built in 1911, with two 6in guns, with smaller guns also, and half a dozen gunboats and destroyers: ■

Nationalist China already^ has made a start towards a new navy. A programme calling for the construction of twenty qr thirty river gunboats has been approved, and as soon as funds are available it will be completed. One of the new river gunboats went into commission this year, named the HseinNing. . - .