Zhonglin-class battleship

The Zhonglin-class battleships (: 中林級戰列艦; Zhōng lín jí zhànlièjiàn) were a pair of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Kodeshi Navy (IKN) during the 1900s. ​Her sister ship was the Yucheng which saw action during Grand Campaigns and was lost during the Kodeshi Civil War. While Zhonglin would be sold to Qingcheng and service into the 1940s.

Background
Kodeshia embarked on a program to modernize and expand its fleet. As with the earlier ironclad battleships, Kodeshia lacked the technology and capability to construct its own battleships, and turned again to the Goetic Empire. They were ordered as part of the Ten Year Naval Expansion Programme by Emperor Qianlong in 1891, under the condition that they be completed within 10 years. This target was easily achieved even though the construction process itself took longer than expected, with the type entering service within only four years.

Design
The design of the Zhonglin-class was based around an improved version of the battleships in Goetic service. This design incorporated some improvements over previous designs such as larger ballast tanks, more powerful engine mounts, and new machinery including a quadruplex propeller system. Zhonglin-class's most obvious design feature was her tumblehome hull. This had several advantages because it allowed greater freeboard since the narrow upper decks reduced the structural weight of the vessel's hull, it increased the field of fire of guns mounted on the sides, and it reduced the ship's roll in heavy seas. Its great disadvantage was that it reduced buoyancy and stability which contributed to excessive heel during turns. As well as this, there were also many changes made to improve survivability of these vessels. These included small "gull" batteries along their side edges, large number of machine gun ports placed above each main battery turret, additional armour plating between armoured deck plates, and even a few extra watertight compartments added into the bow section of the ship. The Zhonglin-class remained largely unchanged from the original model designed by Goetic architect Ernst von Bülow, although she received minor modifications throughout the course of construction. The Zhonglin-class ships had an overall length of 105.7 m (347 ft), beam of 25.6 m (84 ft), draught of 6.1 m (20 ft). They displaced 7,837 tonnes standard load and 8,068 tonnes fuel load. The crew numbered 550 with around 30 officers and the rest enlisted sailors.

Propulsion
The ships were powered by two basic steam compound engines, each driving one propeller, using steam generated by 20 natural draft boilers. The engines were rated at 4,311 indicated horsepower (3,215 kW), and designed to reach a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph). This allowed for a range of 2,328 nmi (4,311 km; 2,679 mi) at 8.1 knots (15.0 km/h; 9.3 mph).

Armament
The ships carried a main battery of two single 279 mm (11 in) guns. They were mounted fore and aft of the superstructure. Secondary armament of the Zhonglin-class consisted of two single 178 mm (6 in) guns, two single 127 mm (5 in) guns, four single 101 mm (4 in) guns, ten single 76 mm (3 in) guns and four 381 mm (15 in) underwater torpedo tubes, two of these were in the bow and stern, and the two broadside underwater tubes were located a amid ship.

Armour
The armour scheme of the Zhonglin-class ships was similar to that used by the Goetic ship except that the Kodeshi ships used superior Harvey armour of the same thickness instead of compound armour. The armoured waterline belt ranged from 114–317 mm (4.5–12.5 in). The deck armour was 41–76 mm (1.6–3.0 in) thick, and the gun turrets had a thickness ranging from 51–404 mm (2.0–15.9 in). The conning tower design was protected by a layer of 401 mm (15.8 in) thick armour.

Service
The Zhonglin-class was commissioned in June 12 1895 arriving in Kodeshia from Goetia and was soon joined by her sister ship the Yucheng in October 5 1896. After being refitted with new machinery and equipment, they departed on February 17 1897 and arrived in Chenghai naval base on May 3 1898. Zhonglin served as the Imperial Kodeshi Navies flagship under Admiral Zheng He's command. They performed various duties such as escort duty and anti-piracy operations against pirates off the coast of Kodeshia.

Grand Campaigns
By the time of the outbreak of the Grand Campaigns Zhonglin was reclassified as a coastal defence ship. Her role changed considerably when she became part of an coastal force commanded by Vice Admiral Zhang Qian. Under his leadership, she launched several shore bombardment attacks along the Taiyi River at Selengerian forces who were trying to invade Kodehsia. This allowed him to capture many fortifications while also inflicting considerable casualties upon the enemy. His actions earned Zhonglin some fame amongst the public. Zhonglin would take part in the later stages of the Tang Offensive of 1924 as part of a naval force conducting shore bombardment and escorting the battleship Tianlin and the navies first aircraft carrier Shenlong.

Kodeshi Civil War
As a coastal defence ship Zhonglin and Yucheng remained loyal to the Emperor once the civil war broke out in 1928. They both acted as the two main warships protecting the capital city of Songhari during the rebellion that erupted there between royalist and republican factions. The Yucheng was severe damage at the Battle of Zhoushan Bay, 12 April 1928. Eventually Yucheng and Zhonglin were surrendered to the new Kodeshi State once the royalist forces were defeated but Yucheng it was assessed as too damaged and scuttled shortly after while Zhonglin was considered obsolete and sold to Qingcheng.

Qingcheng Service
Yucheng sold to Qingcheng navy and operated in the role of fleet flagship until Tianlin was bought, when it carried on as a gunnery training ship, before being placed in reserve. Yucheng was stricken from the naval register in 1940s and were subsequently broken up for scrap.