World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseChinese protected cruiser Zhaohe (romanized via the Postal Map System as Chao Ho) was built in Britain for Qing Dynasty China at the cost of £210,000. By the time she was delivered to China, Qing had been overthrown, and the newly established republic took delivery of the ship in Mar 1912. She saw action on various sides during the 1910s and 1920s. In 1927, while in service under warlord Zhang Zuolin, she was refitted in Japan. Shortly after, she saw action against Nationalist forces during the Northern Expedition, bombarding Wusong off Shanghai and supported the occupation of Jinmen island off Fujian Province. In 1928, as Zhang Zuolin's son and successor Zhang Xueliang pledged allegiance to the Nationalist Party, Zhaohe likewise joined the navy of the Republic of China. In Jul 1933, her crew participated in the mutiny, and she found herself now under the control of the Guangdong Province warlord Chen Jitang. When the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Jul 1937, she was ordered to guard the Humen strait at the Pearl River Delta off Guangdong. On 14 Sep, she and sloop Haizhou engaged Japanese cruiser Yubari and three destroyers; damaged, her captain withdrew her from combat, which action would later condemn the captain to death. Two weeks later, also off Guangdong, she was discovered by Japanese aircraft and was sunk.

Photographs

Zhaohe Operational Timeline

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