Jiyuan (), was a protected cruiser of the Imperial Chinese Navy, assigned to the Beiyang Fleet. She was constructed in Germany as China lacked the industrial facilities needed to build them at the time. Jiyuan was originally intended to be the third ironclad battleship of the , but was reduced in size due to funding issues. Upon completion, she was prevented from sailing to China during the Sino-French War. In the First Sino-Japanese War, she was involved in the Battle of Pungdo, and at the Battle of Yalu River, which resulted in the subsequent execution of her captain. She was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy as a prize of war at the Battle of Weihaiwei, and commissioned as on 16 March 1895. Under the Japanese flag, she was used to bombard positions in the Japanese invasion of Taiwan, and was sunk on 30 November 1904 after striking a Russian mine during the Battle of Port Arthur of the Russo-Japanese War. Design When Jiyuan was originally ordered by the Imperial Chinese Navy, she was to be the third ironclad battleship built by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin, Germany. The Chinese had been seeking larger warships from British shipyards, but negotiations had stalled. They turned instead to German shipyards, who the Chinese managed to negotiate a deal with. The orders for the three ironclads were placed following the construction of the German . Due to funding issues, she was instead reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser, and the planned build of up to a dozen ships were reduced to just those three. Jiyuan displaced and measured long overall, with a beam of and an average draft of . The propulsion system consisted of a produced by a pair of compound-expansion steam engines with two shafts, enabling a cruising speed of . She was normally fitted with a single military mast, but for the sea voyage from Germany to China she was equipped with additional masts and sails. Jiyuans armour consisted of two thick steel barbettes around her main guns, thick gun shields around the others, and thick deck armour. Her main armament was her two breech-loading Krupp guns, mounted in a barbette at towards the front of the ship. She had a further Krupp gun mounted in a rear barbette, five Hotchkiss guns and four above water mounted torpedo tubes. Career China Jiyuan was laid down on 16