Minquan-class gunboat
The Minquan class was a class of gunboats originally built for the Republic of China Navy. The class of ships consisted a pair of semi-sister ships and served in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.
Background
The inauguration of Chiang Kai-shek as Chairman of the National Government of China on 10 October 1927 in Nanjing brought about a new era of centralization not seen in China since the Qing Dynasty. This also finally allowed the government to finally reinvest in China's derelict and poorly maintained navy, that had seen decades of infighting and mutinies throughout the previous Warlord Era. After a contract for new gunboats from Mitsubishi in Japan was turned down, on the grounds of the China Arms Embargo Agreement of 1919, the Kuomintang government turned to the domestic Jiangnan Shipyard. The Jiangnan Shipyard had recently successfully completed an order of six river gunboats for the United States Navy and an order, for a 418-ton gunboat based on the previously built American designs was placed with the Shanghai based shipyard. Over the next several years, a steady order of five new gunboats was placed with Jiangnan, as well as many additional navy orders for modifications and refurbishment. The third and fifth of this series of ships were two semi-sister ships called the and the . These ships were named after two of the Three Principles of the People of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the father of the Republic.Design
The two ships Minquan and Minsheng were based on the 1920s American Yangtze Patrol gunboat designs by Superintending Engineer Robert Buchanan Mauchan of Jiangnan Shipyards. These ships were built by Jiangnan from 1913 to 1928. The new series of Chinese gunboats were designed by the succeeding Superintending engineer. Yi Zaifu, who had helped work on the original US Navy designs and expanded on them. The two ships of the Minquan class were shallow draught gunboats with sea-going capabilities but expressly built for riverine service and designed to be capable of sailing up the Upper Yangtze River, all the way to Chongqing. The first ship of the class, Minquan was laid down 16 January 1929, in the same month as the completion of the gunboat Xianning and the launching of the gunboat Yongsui. Of intermediate size and displacement of the two other gunboats, Minquan had a full displacement of, an overall length of and notably a draught of only. The ship was powered by two vertical triple expansion engines, pushing two propellers at with two cylindrical boilers that were coal fired rather than oil fired like the American gunboats. Minquan was able to reach and carried of coal. She was planned to be completed in only eleven months and construction went swiftly, with a launching by 21 September 1929 and completion on New Year's Day, 1930. The second ship of the class was Minsheng which was laid down in January 1931, a year after Minquan was completed. Minsheng was built to a modified design of Minquan, with lessons learned from the construction of the light cruiser Yat Sen, which was built between the two ships in 1930, applied to the Minsheng and making her a semi-sister ship to Minquan rather than being an exact copy. These changes led to a small increase in displacement by and increase in length by. The draught was also increased slightly to which would still allow the Upper Yangtze up to Chongqing but not further to Yibin. The engine layout remained the same, but with an engine output of, increasing the overall top speed to.Armament was also another area of variation between the two semi-sister ships. Generally both ships had the same main and secondary armament, but tertiary and anti-aircraft armament were mounted, dismounted or swapped out often on ROCN ships in the 30s. The main armament of both ships consisted of a single bow mounted /45 and a single /45 mounted on the stern. Minquan and Minsheng at various times were also armed with a single high-angle /40 mounted in front of the bridge, two or three /40, six [MG 13|] machine guns and/or one /65 anti-aircraft gun.