CHINA'S NAVY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 5

CHINA'S NAVY.

PROGRAMME OF CRUISERS AND DESTROYERS NUCLEUS OF A NEW FLEET. Br Teleerftpli—Press Association—Copyright . Sydney, May 13. Information has been received regarding plans for the rebuilding of the Chinese Navy.i The scheme provides for the sending of an ample numbor of students abroad for training, and tho establishment of naval schools in the coast and river provinces. Tho nucleus, to be begun at once, will consist of cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats. • The proposed ships will include: Cruisers ••••• Protected cruisers ~.« 2 Dispatch vessels _....——-.. 2 Destroyers > ~- 4 Torpedo boats -. 6 , Two of the cruisers are now being built in England. ' DESTRUCTION OF CHINA'S OLD OLD FLEET. COAL DUST SHELLS. With a view to tho rebuilding of the Chinese Navy, a Naval Commission from China last year visited Britain, Germany, and' other European countries. Writes a London paper: . "China, having revolutionised her army, is onco more about to attempt to create a fleet.: The last Chinese fleet, of which so much was once expected, came to a melancholy end during the ChinoJapaneso war. The ships were good and the sailors bravo,'but the navy was destroyed by tho terrible corruption that at that time was a canker • fastened on the Chinese body politic. When the fleet went out to fight the Japanese many of the shells used in the guns were filled, not with powder, but with coal dust. Admiral Yeh was a fine leader, and the sailors under him fought with an amazing courage. They were murdered and their fleet wiped out by the peculation of their own officials. This is not likely to happen again,- for among the many notable changes in China since 1900, there has been none more remarkable than the growth of a spirit of honest service among many of the most responsible statesmen. "There has been keen competition among various Powers, to secure orders for the new Chinese Navy, and at one time it seemed likely that the now fleot would bo built in Japan. Within a few years wo will see China constructing her own warships in her own yards."