Ioshima-class cruiser
The Ioshima-class escort ship also called Yasoshima-class light cruiser were a pair of escort ships reconstructed from former Republic of China Navy Ning Hai class cruisers that were sunk during earlier battles- Ioshima from Ning Hai and Yasoshima from Ping Hai - these ships were salvageable as river water doesn't corrode sunken hulls as badly as sea water would. Originally they were to be transferred to the puppet government of Wang Jing-Wei, but instead of honoring the agreement, the Japanese seized and outfitted them first as barracks hulks and ultimately to their final form in 1944.
Since they were built on the same design from the start, the reconstruction brought them to a more-or-less common standard: old armaments and fire control platforms were removed; aft superstructures were replaced with bigger ones mounting boat handling cranes and a raised main gun position, and search radar sets were installed. Their new armaments, while seemingly lighter, were dual-purpose weapons more-suitable against contemporary aircraft.
Both Isoshima and Yasoshima were sunk by late 1944.
''Ning Hai''-class cruiser
The Ning Hai-class cruisers were a pair of light cruisers in the Chinese fleet before World War II., the lead ship of the class, was laid down in Japan while the follow-on,, was laid down in China and completed with Japanese assistance to a slightly modified design that included the deletion of seaplane facilities. While Ning Hai was quickly commissioned, tensions between China and Japan plagued the efforts to complete Ping Hai. Both served as flagships of the Republic of China Navy, with Ping Hai taking over the role from its older sister ship since April 1937. The ROCN had an ambitious plan to procure a larger and more-powerful command cruiser and then to reassign the two vessels as scouts/flagships of submarine flotillas, but the outbreak of war with Japan put an end to all related efforts.Ning Hai and Ping Hai were sunk in defense of the Kiangyin Fortress, Yangtze River, near Nanking by Japanese aircraft on 23 September 1937, but then refloated by the Japanese. Originally they were to be transferred to the puppet government of Wang Jing-Wei, but the Japanese then had a change of heart and outfitted them first as barracks hulks and ultimately as escort ships Ioshima and Yasoshima in 1944.
Design
The Ning Hai class were a compact cruiser design, with the main armament of six guns in three twin turrets giving each ship the same broadside as the at around half the cost. The lead ship of the class Ning Hai also had a small hangar for two single-seat floatplanes, a Japanese-built Aichi AB-3 and a similar aircraft of local design, the Naval Air Establishment Ning Hai.The Ning Hai class did have a number of drawbacks. Their high centres of gravity, a common flaw to numerous Japanese-designed warships of the era, made the ships unstable in heavy seas. Their use of obsolescent triple-expansion engines, dictated by building cost considerations, kept their maximum speed at around. Given the ships' primary role as coastal defence ships, these were probably acceptable trade-offs.