As additions to the lightly armored gun-boat _Tiong Sing_, built in 1875, China ordered this year from the Vulcan Company two heavy coast-defence vessels of 7000 tons displacement and 6000 horse-power, and laid down at Foochow an armored gun-vessel. The _Tshao Yong_ and _Yang Wai_ are steel cruisers built at Elswick, of 1350 tons displacement and 2400 horse-power; they have developed sixteen knots, and are armed with two 10-inch and four 4½-inch Armstrongs, with a secondary battery of two lighter pieces and six machine guns. The _Fee-chen_, a small steel cruiser built at Sunderland, England, has triple-expansion engines, and is expected to develop thirteen knots. Her armament consists of two 6-inch Armstrongs and four lighter guns; she is also fitted to do cable work. Three cruisers of the _Nan Shu_ type are being constructed in Chinese dockyards, besides several of the _Kuang Chen_ class of gun-boats. The Japanese navy consists of forty vessels, of which eight only are modern. The classified armored fleet includes five ships, among them the _Adsama Kan_, formerly known as the _Stonewall Jackson_; none of these is of any importance except the central battery ship _Fu Soo_, which was launched in 1877. In January of this year, however, the Japanese government ordered from the Société des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée two coast-defence vessels, to be built on the plans of M. Bertin, constructing engineer of the Japanese navy. They are to be built entirely of steel, on the cellular plan, with two longitudinal and twelve transverse bulkheads. Their principal dimensions are: length 295 feet 2 inches, beam 50 feet 6 inches, depth 34 feet 9 inches, draught aft 21 feet 2 inches, displacement 4140 tons. The armament proposed is one 12.6-inch (32-centimetre) breech-loader, eleven 4.72-inch (12-centimetre) breech-loaders, six rapid-fire guns, twelve revolving cannons, and four torpedo-tubes—one in the bow, one in the stern, and one each broadside. Two independent triple-expansion engines, driving twin screws, and required to develop 5400 indicated horse-power with forced draft, and 3400 with natural draft, supplied with steam by six three-furnace boilers in two groups, furnish the motive power. The estimated maximum speed is sixteen knots. A heavy protective steel deck and a complete surrounding arrangement of coal-bunkers protect the engine and boiler space and magazines. The complement of officers and men will number four hundred. In March, 1887, a small armored gun-vessel, designed by the same official, was laid down at the Ishikawa-Shima dockyard, Japan. The displacement is 750 tons, length 150 feet, and beam 25 feet.[60]