Battle of Yalu

Battle of Yalu River (1894)
Part of the First Sino-Japanese War
"Battle of the Yellow Sea" by Korechika
Date 17 September 1894 Location Korea Bay, near the mouth of the Yalu River Result Decisive Japanese victory
Belligerents
Qing China	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Ding Ruchang Liu Buchan	Itō Sukeyuki Tsuboi Kōzō
Strength
2 battleships 8 cruisers 2 corvettes 2 torpedo boats	9 protected cruisers 1 corvette 1 gunboat 1 auxiliary cruiser
Casualties and losses
850 killed 500 wounded 5 ships sunk 3 ships damaged	180 killed 200 wounded 4 ships severely damaged 2 ships lightly damaged

180 killed
200 wounded
4 ships severely damaged

The Battle of the Yalu River (simplified Chinese: 黄海海战; traditional Chinese: 黃海海戰; pinyin: Huáng Hǎi Hǎizhàn; Japanese:Kōkai-kaisen (黄海海戦, "Naval Battle of the Yellow Sea")) was the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War, and took place on 17 September 1894, the day after the Japanese victory at the land Battle of Pyongyang. It involved ships from the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Chinese Beiyang Fleet. The battle is also known by a variety of names: Battle of Haiyang Island, Battle of Dadonggou, Battle of the Yellow Sea and Battle of Yalu, after the geographic location of the battle, which was in the Yellow Sea off the mouth of the Yalu River and not in the river itself. There is also no agreement among contemporary sources on the exact numbers and composition of each fleet.

Japan's initial strategy was to gain command of the sea, which was critical to its operations in Korea. Command of the sea would allow Japan to transport troops to the mainland. The army's Fifth Division would land at Chemulpo on the western coast of Korea, both to engage and push Chinese forces northwest up the peninsula and to draw the Beiyang Fleet into the Yellow Sea, where it would be engaged in decisive battle. Depending on the outcome of this engagement, Japan would make one of three choices; If the Combined Fleet were to win decisively, the larger part of the Japanese army would undertake immediate landings on the coast between Shan-hai-kuan and Tientsin in order to defeat the Chinese army and bring the war to a swift conclusion. If the engagement were to be a draw and neither side gained control of the sea, the army would concentrate on the occupation of Korea. Lastly, if the Combined Fleet was defeated and consequently lost command of the sea, the bulk of the army would remain in Japan and prepare to repel a Chinese invasion, while the Fifth Division in Korea would be ordered to hang on and fight a rearguard action.

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