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Chinese gunboat Yongsui.
History
Republic of China
Name	Yongsui
Builder	Jiangnan Shipyard, Shanghai, Republic of China
Laid down	2 May 1928
Launched	27 January 1929
Commissioned	1929
Recommissioned	1949
Stricken	23 April 1949
Fate	Retired 1975
People's Republic of China
Name	Yongsui
Acquired	23 April 1949
Fate	Sunk 23 September 1949
General characteristics (as planned)
Type	gunboat
Displacement	650 t (640 long tons)
Length	68.58 ft (20.90 m) o/a
Beam	9.14 ft (2.79 m)
Draught	1.83 ft (0.56 m)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 VTE engines, 2 Yarrow boilers, 4,000 bhp (3,000 kW)
Speed	18.5 knots (21.3 mph; 34.3 km/h)
Complement	152
Armament	1 × 152 mm (6 in)/50 (1 × 1) 1 × 120 mm (5 in)/45 (1 × 1) 3 × 76 mm (3 in)/40 (3 × 1) 4 × 57 mm (2 in)/40 (4 × 1)

The Yongsui (Chinese: 永綏; pinyin: Yǒngsuī; Wade–Giles: Yung Sui; lit. 'Peace Forever') was a unique gunboat built for the Republic of China Navy in the late 1920's. Yongsui would participate in the First encirclement campaign, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

Background

On 5 May 1919, an arms embargo was placed on China, which was then embroiled in the bloody and violent time of lawlessness, known as the Warlord Era, after the collapse of de facto dictator, Yuan Shikai's attempt to restore the Empire of China. The goal of the embargo was an attempt to minimize bloodshed and prevent foreign influence on China's political future through arms exports. Throughout the 1920s, as more factions merged and centralized through a combination of diplomacy and warfare, the Kuomintang party (KMT), under Chiang Kai-shek had begun to emerge as the largest faction in China. By 10 October 1928 Chiang Kai-shek established the new Nationalist government of China with it's capital in Nanjing. The new government inherited a poorly maintained and decrepit Republic of China Navy, mostly inherited from the Qing Dynasty's Imperial Chinese Navy. With the continued infiltration in Northern China by the Empire of Japan Admiral Wu Renli was given a modest budget to rebuild the navy but with an international embargo on China in effect, attempts to buy ships overseas failed. After a failed bid for a 650-ton gunboat from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, due to the embargo still being effect, it was decided to opt instead for domestic ship production. Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai was selected to build the ROCN's next series of gunboats after successfully fulfilling an order for six river gunboats for the United States Navy Yangtze Patrol. The first new gunboat built by Jiangnan was the 418-ton Xianning which was which was laid down April 1928. This was followed next month on 2 May 1928 by the larger 650-ton Yongsui.

Design

Yongsui was the second of a series of warships built at Jiangnan Shipyards and designed by Superintending engineer Yi Zaifu (叶在馥) who helped work on the American gunboats built at Jiangnan which were designed by his mentor and former Superintending engineer, Robert Buchanan Mauchan. Like the Xianning, the Yongsui designed for inshore and riverine service but overall enlarged over her predecessor. The ship possessed a low freeboard and a relatively low forecastle with a break but was still longer and taller than Xianning's. The very shallow draught for a ship of her displacement allowed navigation up the Yangtze River, theoretically past even Chongqing, to Yibin.

References

• Bevans, Charles (1969). Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America: Volume 2 (Multilateral treaties, 1918-1930). United States: U.S. Department Of State.
• Chesneau, Roger (1980). Conway's All the World Fighting Ships: 1922-1946. London, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-8517-7146-5.
• Wright, Richard (2000). The Chinese Steam Navy: 1862-1945. London, UK: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-8617-6144-6.978-0851771465