Chapter Twenty-Four: The Empire's Premier Warship

Entrusted by the German Emperor, Feng Chengqian dared not take matters lightly.

On the last day of April, Feng Chengqian visited the Vulcan Shipyard in Szczecin to personally oversee the design and construction of the new warships. He assumed the role of chief designer himself and recruited a large number of promising young engineers.

For the Imperial Navy, this was an excellent opportunity to cultivate ship designers, so Feng Chengqian had no intention of allowing the more rigid-minded engineers to monopolize the key positions.

From the very beginning, the design work encountered difficulties.

Even the open-minded young engineers found it hard to grasp Feng Chengqian’s forward-thinking concepts, sometimes considering his ideas fanciful.

For instance, Feng Chengqian insisted on arranging the turrets along the longitudinal axis and equipping them with thick armor.

In truth, the main issue lay with Feng Chengqian himself.

The greatest problem was his disregard for the technological foundation of the era.

Take the placement of turrets, for example: Feng Chengqian failed to consider that, with limited performance in propulsion systems, compromises in firepower arrangement were inevitable. Otherwise, the balance of the warship’s performance would be disrupted—enhanced firepower would come at the cost of other capabilities.

Given the circumstances at the time, to meet speed requirements, the protected area had to be minimized, which in turn limited the ship’s length. According to Feng Chengqian’s specifications, arranging three twin turrets along the longitudinal axis would push the ship’s length over 140 meters, whereas the alternative layout—one forward, two amidships—could reduce it by twenty meters. Those twenty meters were not insignificant; they meant a reduction of over a thousand tons in armor. Moreover, an excessively long hull would affect the ship’s stability and diminish the accuracy of its guns.

However, Feng Chengqian did not immediately recognize this issue.

When engineers raised concerns over protection and propulsion, Feng Chengqian opted for another solution: he proposed switching from twin turrets to triple turrets. In his vision, this change would allow the ship’s length to be kept under 125 meters without reducing the number of main guns.

This idea was also impractical, since the empire only possessed twin turrets and had no triple turrets.

At that time, there were no reliable triple turrets anywhere in the world.

Designing a triple turret from scratch, even disregarding cost-effectiveness, would require two or three years—far too slow for the shipbuilding schedule.

Though Feng Chengqian did not abandon the triple turret, offering five hundred thousand Imperial Marks and issuing tenders to major armament firms like Krupp for research and development, he had to compromise: if the triple turret could not keep pace with construction, twin turrets would be used instead.

A new problem then arose: how many turrets should be adopted?

At the time, Feng Chengqian believed that two turrets would suffice.

Though this matched the number on Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the longitudinal arrangement granted each turret a firing arc of over 240 degrees, making the broadside firepower twice that of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. But there was no mature naval tactics then; pursuit battles of the age of sail were clearly unsuitable for the steam era, so this design was met with widespread opposition from the engineers.

More importantly, officials sent by the Qing Dynasty also believed that two turrets were far from sufficient.

Consider that these ships displaced over ten thousand tons, much larger than Dingyuan and Zhenyuan. Equipping them with only two turrets would make them seem too underwhelming.

Feng Chengqian argued that enhancing firepower did not necessarily require increasing the number of guns.

With the engineers unanimously opposed, Feng Chengqian held firm and suggested to the Qing officials that if greater firepower was desired, larger-caliber naval guns could be adopted—such as 350 mm, forty-caliber guns—thus enabling four guns to deliver firepower exceeding that of six 300 mm guns.

It must be admitted, this was a fairly ideal compromise.

Yet convincing the engineers and Qing officials was no easy matter.

Moreover, the German Empire could not export 350 mm naval guns at the time; even if under development, it would take a year or two before they could be delivered.

This matter delayed the design work by nearly a month.

In the end, Feng Chengqian and the equally resolute engineers each made concessions: the ship would carry three turrets, all arranged along the longitudinal axis, with the second turret situated between the two funnels. The design was set for installation of 300 mm guns, not 350 mm guns.

This layout allowed maximum use of the space between the boiler room and engine room.

Thus, with three turrets aligned longitudinally, the ship’s length could be kept around 130 meters, only ten meters longer than the 120 meters insisted upon by the engineers.

Still, Feng Chengqian was not entirely satisfied.

In his view, even with three turrets, it would be best to use triple turrets, so that in future, one could choose between three triple 300 mm turrets or three twin 350 mm turrets, thereby extending the ship’s service life to the maximum.

The issue was that the engineers’ plan had been approved by the Qing officials.

Feng Chengqian had to accept reality, but he played a trick: he brought Wilhelmshaven Shipyard into the project, assigning it to build the first ship for the Imperial Navy, deliberately slowing its construction so it would be completed last, while the four ships for the Qing would be finished ahead of schedule.

The purpose of this was to allow for changes in design during construction.

In early August, Feng Chengqian submitted the design drawings to Frederick III and notified the Qing officials.

At that time, two sets of drawings existed: one for the Qing, one for the Imperial Navy.

Frederick III did not inquire in detail, merely instructing Feng Chengqian to handle matters as he saw fit, so long as nothing went awry. It was understandable, as Frederick III had little knowledge of naval affairs.

According to the metrics of the time, the design for the Qing was more advanced and reasonable.

The four giant ships, named Sheyuan, Hongyuan, Fuyuan, and Jiyuan by Li Hongzhang, had slight differences in their specifications upon completion. Taking Sheyuan as an example: its standard displacement was 10,800 tons, full load displacement 12,400 tons; hull length 128.5 meters, waterline length at standard displacement 119.2 meters; standard draft 7.4 meters, maximum draft 7.7 meters; armed with six 305 mm (German standard; British standard would be 300 mm) thirty-caliber main guns, eight 150 mm secondary guns, four 37 mm revolving machine cannons, three torpedo tubes, and two torpedo boats. Maximum turret armor thickness was 300 mm, side armor 280 mm, conning tower 320 mm. It was equipped with eight boilers, two triple-expansion steam engines, maximum power output of 9,800 horsepower, twin-shaft, twin-screw propulsion, with a top speed of sixteen knots.

In terms of capability, these four giants were unrivaled in the Far East and highly advanced even by global standards.

Upon receiving the design documents, Li Hongzhang was extremely satisfied, immediately approving the construction order and permitting the Imperial Foreign Ministry to establish a labor recruitment office in Qingdao.

The name "Qingdao" appeared in official documents for the first time.

By comparison, the ironclad custom-built for the Imperial Navy and later named "Emperor Frederick" by Frederick III was far less dazzling.

According to Feng Chengqian’s specifications, the Emperor Frederick was designed for triple 300 mm turrets or twin 350 mm turrets. As a result, its hull length reached 132 meters, draft increased by 0.2 meters, displacement rose by 1,500 tons, boilers were reduced to six, the propulsion system delivered only 8,400 horsepower, and its maximum speed was just twelve knots. To reduce displacement, secondary guns were cut to four, and other armaments were similarly reduced.

To anyone, a warship with such slow speed seemed utterly useless.

By the standards of the time, this was indeed problematic.

Yet who could have foreseen that, more than a decade later, after Sheyuan and its sister ships had become history, Emperor Frederick would not only still be in service but would enjoy a renewed lease on life?

More than a decade later, Emperor Frederick underwent its first comprehensive refit, receiving water-tube boilers and steam turbines, boosting its power output to 24,000 horsepower and its speed to 24.5 knots—matching the first generation of battlecruisers. After being equipped with twin 350 mm forty-five-caliber main guns, Emperor Frederick remained a powerful warship.

Feng Chengqian’s foresight preserved the assets of the Imperial Navy to the greatest extent.

Without sustained accumulation, the Imperial Navy could never have grown strong.

Later, many believed that Emperor Frederick ushered in a new era. However, most historians still maintained that Emperor Frederick was not a true battleship, as it was built with short-caliber 300 mm main guns and reciprocating steam engines, its performance falling far short of subsequent battleships. Even after improvements, it could not truly serve as a battleship.

Still, no one could deny that Emperor Frederick marked the first step in the empire’s rise as a naval power.

At the time, deliberately limiting performance indicators proved highly beneficial for the empire.

It must be remembered that Britain was most concerned about the Imperial Navy. If the empire had produced a powerful capital ship, it would have provoked Britain into building new warships, kicking off an Anglo-German naval arms race before the empire was ready, making victory even more elusive.

Only by convincing Britain that the empire could not build advanced warships could the empire lower Britain’s guard.

Judging by the situation then, this strategy worked.

The four Sheyuan-class ships were delivered to the Qing Navy two years later, while Emperor Frederick took three years to build, not entering service until 1893. By then, four more warships were under construction. The Imperial Navy’s unhurried pace of expansion proved highly effective in lulling its rivals.