A Further Discussion On Failure Of Peiyang Fleet In The Naval Battle Of The Yellow Sea

The naval battle of the yellow sea, erupting on the17thSep. in1894, has a far-reachingimpact in the history of modern Chinese and world navy. This battle, as the second decisivebattle used steam power (the first one was Lissa naval), provided us with the experience andlessons about the development of navy technology and equipment, thalassocracy strategy andthe orientation of formation tactics. At the same time not only was it a watershed in thehistory of Chinese navy and Japanese navy, but an important turning point in the history ofChina-Japan relations. However, there have been always divergences in the academia untilnow. Some scholars think the reason caused the failure of China was the technological gaps.Others, however, believe that corruption under the backward system, falsification of training,and cliquism which led to a quality possessed by officers and soldiers caused the failure ofChina.Based on the latest research achievements, academic materials, the background ofdevelopment of navy technology, I will analysis this problem from the angles of equipments,logistics and peopleware of the Peiyang fleet, and my conclusion is that the main factorscaused the failure of China were factors of equipments and logistics rather than militaryknowledge.Considering the logistics situation and hardware condition of that time, the failuremainlym camefrom technological and logistics gaps.Specifically,the firepower,maneuverability,provisions and supplies Chinese lagged far behind Japanese. The problem of military knowledge of Peiyang fleet was not a primary cause for the failure of China, but only the less one of the factors.