Chinese cruiser Ning Hai
Chinese cruiser Ning Hai in 1932
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| History | |
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 Republic of China
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| Name: | Ning Hai |
| Ordered: | 1930 |
| Builder: | Harima Shipyards, Japan |
| Laid down: | 20 February 1931 |
| Launched: | 10 October 1931 |
| Commissioned: | 1 September 1932 |
| Fate: | sunk 23 September 1937 by Japanese aircraft |
 Empire of Japan
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| Name: | Ioshima |
| Acquired: | 4 May 1938 |
| Reclassified: | kaibokan, 1 June 1944 |
| Struck: | 10 November 1944 |
| Fate: | sunk by USN submarine 19 September 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ning Hai-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 2,526 t (2,486 long tons) |
| Length: | 360 ft (110 m) |
| Beam: | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Draught: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Three-shaft Reciprocating Engines; 4 coal/oil-fired boilers; 10,579 hp (7,889 kW) |
| Speed: | 23.2 knots (26.7 mph; 43.0 km/h) |
| Range: | 5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) |
| Complement: | 361 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 × floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities: | Hangar and hoist crane |
Ning Hai (Chinese: 甯海; literally: "Peaceful Seas") was a light cruiser in the Republic of China Navy (ROCN) before World War II and the lead ship of her class. She was sunk in the early days of the Second Sino-Japanese War by aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy, and her wreck was raised and repaired by the Japanese, re-entering service with the Japanese Navy in the Pacific War as the escort vessel Ioshima (五百島?). She was sunk again in September 1944 by a USN submarine.
By the end of the 1920s, the ROCN had only four antiquated 19th century protected cruisers and two training cruisers received before World War I. The Kuomintang government had an ambitious re-armament plan but lacked funds, and after extensive negotiations with shipbuilders in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, placed an order with the Japanese for one light cruiser to be built in Japan, with a second vessel to be built in China with Japanese assistance. Despite the very strained political relations between Japan and China and the strenuous objections of the Japanese military, Harima Shipyards completed the first cruiser in 1932.
Ning Hai was based on the experimental Japanese cruiser Yūbari, which combined a small size with heavy weaponry, but in an even smaller displacement of only 2,526 t (2,486 long tons). As with Yūbari, Ning Hai has a single trunked smokestack, and a tripod bridge arrangement. Her weaponry was comparable to ships with a larger displacement: six 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type naval guns mounted in three double gun turrets, six 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval guns, and dual 533-mm torpedo tubes. Ning Hai also had a small hangar for two seaplanes; two Aichi AB-3 biplanes, one bought from Japan and one built locally using a spare engine and domestic materials, were assigned to it. There was no aircraft catapult, and the seaplanes were hoisted onto and deployed using a crane.
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