Battle of Foochow .28Fuzhou.29 Chinese corvette Yangwu

on august 9, 1884, french naval forces attacked , captured keelung on island of formosa in response chinese involvement in tonkin campaign , bắc lệ ambush. shortly afterwards, french navy′s far east squadron under rear admiral amédée courbet, comprising cruisers duguay-trouin, villars, , d estaing along number of smaller vessels, sent min river attack arsenal @ foochow. travelled upriver, chinese declared war on french, officially marking start of sino-french war.

yangwu led fujian fleet protecting foochow under command of captain chang cheng, otherwise comprised 3 sloops in addition variety of gunboats, transports, launches , war junks. royal navy , united states navy vessels in port made anchor distance away engagement expected take place. vessels faced off several days before french forces made attack, awaiting reinforcement ironclad triomphante. planned attack before 2pm on august 23, 2 torpedo boats tasked engaging yangwu , gunboat fusheng on first signal.

the sunken yangwu after battle of foochow.

just prior 2pm on august 23, attack began after broadside gunboat zhenwei @ french gunboat lynx. signal small boats move forward, , 27 seconds later massive explosion erupted yangwu. boat no. 46 had impacted spar torpedo below waterline amidships. detonation large fifteen of crew survived , claimed bodies launched air found on rooftops of houses on 1 mile (1.6 km) away, although later considered outlandish claim. number of survivors likewise questioned eyewitnesses on board screw sloop uss enterprise, official report claimed senior officers survived whereas witnesses suggested possible survivors have been threw river prior explosion.

a report appeared following battle of interview mr. yung, claimed have survived yangwu explosion having been stationed @ stern of vessel. explained ship had returned fire french cruiser volta before being hit spar torpedo, , orders given continue firing after explosion. fire hotchkiss guns on french vessels made difficult. but, despite yangwu disabled other torpedo boat. captain handed yung flotation device , decided junior crew member should jump first, captain following. swam away, yung saw captain helping engineer had suffered severe burns shortly afterwards fore gunpowder magazine detonated, destroying rest of ship.

the wreck of yangwu drifted french fired on caught fire , sank. victory of french forces @ foochow decisive, losses estimated either @ 6 or 12 personnel 27 missing. chinese losses far greater, @ 521 killed, 150 wounded , large number missing after battle. bombardment of arsenal lasted 2 days before french ships headed down river, destroying forts encountered on way.