Chinese cruiser Ying Swei

Chinese cruiser Ying Swei
History
Republic of China
Name:	Ying Swei (应瑞)
Builder:	Vickers Limited
Cost:	£204,000
Laid down:	12 December 1910
Launched:	14 July 1911
Completed:	2 December 1911
Homeport:	Nanjing
Fate:	sunk 25 October 1937 by Japanese Aircraft
General characteristics
Class and type:	Chao Ho-class protected cruiser
Displacement:	2,460 t (2,421 long tons)
Length:	105 m (344 ft)
Beam:	12 m (39 ft)
Draught:	4 m (13 ft)
Propulsion:	Three-shaft Parsons steam turbines, 2 cylindrical and 4 White-Foster boilers; 6,000 hp (4,500 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Range:	5,000 nmi (9,300 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement:	270
Armament:	2 × 152 mm (6 in) guns 4 × 102 mm (4 in) 4 × 76 mm (3 in) 6 × 47 mm (2 in) 2 × 37 mm (1 in) AA guns 2 × 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Deck: 19 to 25 mm (0.75 to 0.98 in) Conning tower: 76 mm (3.0 in)

Ying Swei (Chinese: 应瑞; pinyin: Yīng Ruì; Wade–Giles: Ying Swei; literally: "Propitious Promise") was a protected cruiser in the training Chao Ho class originally built for the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The Chao Ho class were part of a largely unrealized seven-year modernization program by the Qing Dynasty's imperial regent Zaifeng, Prince Chun that would have ordered a number of modern battleships, cruisers, torpedo boats and submarines. The year after being laid down for the Imperial Chinese Navy, the 267-year reign of the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to an end when Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Xinhai Revolution forced the abdication of the child-emperor Puyi and created the Republic of China.Ying Swei would spend the rest of her service with the Republic of China Navy.

The Chao Ho-class cruisers were unusual in that all three semi-sister ships were built in different ship building yards, and although all three ships were built to the same basic design, they varied in size, armour and displacement, of which Ying Swei was the shortest and smallest, and all three ships carried varied assortments of guns (as opposed to uniform main armament). These were done to increase the educational effectiveness of the ships, in order to familiarize their crews with various boiler and weapons systems.