ROCS Da Tong

hypilot · February 11, 2024, 10:18pm

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History

The Datong was formerly the Jian’an ship built by the Fuzhou ship administration bureau, laid down with her sister, Jianwei, in 1906. In 1927 they participated in the Shanghai workers riots instigated by the Chinese communists. They failed to do much however as they were stopped by French warships and were abandoned the following year.
Fortunately the admiralty of the Republic of China Navy recovered and renovated Jian’an and Jianwei. Jian a was converted to the Datong ship on January 20 1930 at the cost of 407,346 yuan.
After renovation her weight increased to 1,050 tons, her powerplant was changed to 4 coal fired boilers, 2 reciprocating steam engines, double axis propulsion which subsequently decreased her horsepower and speed from her original 6,500 HP to 3,884 HP and 23 knots to 17 knots respectively. Her crew size increased from 139 to 168 and her armament was now 2 x 4.7 inch guns, 1 x 3 inch gun, 2 x 57mm guns, 1 x 20mm gun and 6 x machine guns. She also had her torpedo launch tubes from her Jian’an configuration removed.

After renovations she was assigned to the 2nd fleet and patrolled the Yangtze River. In early to mid 1934 she participated in naval exercises near Nanjing focusing on gunnery, boatmanship, flag signaling, anti-piracy, etc. Sometime between 1934 and 1937 she was assigned to the first fleet. When the Second Sino-Japanese war broke out the Chinese admiralty decided to sink her and other ships at the mouth of the Yangtze River to stop the Japanese from entering China’s inner waters.