The Chinese navy, though of recent growth, consists to-day of seven armored and ten unarmored ships of modern types, in addition to torpedo-boats, and to at least thirty other vessels which are not so obsolete as nine-tenths of the ships this country has in commission. Nearly ten years ago the Chinese government realized that its wooden corvettes, gun-boats, and armed junks were no longer adapted to warfare, and ordered from the Vulcan Works at Stettin the two steel cruisers _Nan Shu_ and _Nan Shen_. These are of 2200 tons displacement, and with 2400 horse-power have developed 15 knots speed; their armament is composed of two 8-inch and eight 4½-inch Armstrongs, and of lighter secondary pieces. In 1881 these ships were followed by the armored battle-ships _Chen Yüan_ and _Ting Yüan_, and by the steel cruiser _Tchi Yüan_. The battle-ships are built of steel, and have the following dimensions: length 296.5 feet, beam 59 feet, mean draught 20 feet, displacement 7430 tons. Their compound armor extends throughout a central citadel 138 feet long, and around a nearly elliptical redoubt situated at its forward end; the side armor is five feet wide, and has a thickness of 14 inches at the water-line, of 8 inches at the lower and of 10 inches at the upper edge; the protection to the redoubt is 12, and to the conning-tower 8, inches thick. The armament consists of four 12-inch Krupps, echeloned in pairs within the redoubt; of two 5.9-inch Krupps mounted forward and aft inside of machine-gun proof turrets; of eleven Hotchkiss revolving cannons, and a supply of Whitehead torpedo-tubes. The engines are of the three-cylinder compound type, and develop 7300 horse-power and 15.5 knots. The ships have double bottoms, minutely subdivided, and in addition to a cork belt forward and abaft the citadel a steel protective deck two inches thick curves to the extremities. The twin-screw steel cruiser _Tchi Yüan_ is of 3200 tons displacement, and has two sets of two-cylinder horizontal compound engines, which develop 2800 horse-power and a speed of 15 knots; her dimensions are: length 236 feet 3 inches, beam 34 feet 5 inches, and draught 15 feet 9 inches. The entire under-water body is covered by a curved steel deck, which is 4 inches thick, and extends 4 feet 9 inches below the water-line; the space between this deck and the one above is used for coal-bunkers. “There are two machine-gun proof turrets on the fore and aft line, the base of the forward one being surmounted by a fixed tower armored with 15-inch steel, which extends to a height sufficient to protect the base of the turret, its machinery, and gun-carriages. The armament is composed of two 8.27-inch (21 centimetre) Krupps in the forward turret, of one 5.9-inch (15 centimetre) Krupp in the after turret, of two similar guns on the main deck aft, of five Hotchkiss revolving cannons, and of a supply of Whitehead torpedoes, discharged through four above-water tubes.”[58]