Bronco NB5017 Imperial Chinese Beiyang Fleet Ironclad Battleship Chen Yuen

Chen Yuen (also known as Chen Yuan or Zhenyuan) was a Chinese battleship (pre-dreadnought or pre-dreadnought) from the late 19th century. The keel was laid under this vessel in 1882, the launch took place in November 1882, and its commissioning in 1885. The full displacement of the ship at the time of launching was about 7,700 tons, her length - 93.9 meters, and width - 18.3 meters. The maximum speed of the vessel did not exceed 15-16 knots. The ship's deck armament at the time of launching consisted of: 4 305 mm guns, 4 152 mm guns or 3 torpedo tubes.

Chen Yuen was built to a Chinese order at the German shipyard Vulcan AG in Szczecin. The genesis of this unit is related to the efforts of some Chinese politicians to modernize their country's navy at the end of the 19th century. Due to many problems (mainly a technological barrier) of the Chinese shipbuilding industry, orders for new units were placed at foreign shipyards, including German shipyards. One of such ships was Chen Yuen, which had good weapons and very strong - for those times - armor. It was in no significant way inferior to the then Japanese battleships of the same type. The unit took an active part in the First Japanese-Chinese War (commanded by the American Philo McGiffin), and in its course fought in the battle at the mouth of the Yalu River (1894). In 1895 it was taken over by Japan as a war booty. It served under the Japanese flag until 1912 under the name Chinen.