Laiyuan had a steel housing, divided into 66 waterproof compartments filled with cork, a single smokestack, and single mast. Her belt armor had a thickness of but did not extend above the waterline or to the extremities of the hull, and was at the conning tower and barbettes. Her deck armor had a thickness of at the extremities. The prow was reinforced for ramming. The power plant was a double expansionreciprocating steam engine with four cylindrical boilers, driving two screws. The ship’s main armament was two breech-loading 8-inch Krupp cannon, paired in the forward barbette. Provision was made for only 50 rounds of ammunition per gun. The secondary armament consisted of two 6-inch Krupp guns mounted on sponsons on either side of the deck. The ship also had two 47-mm long guns and five 37 mm Hotchkiss guns, as well as two torpedo tubes. Jingyuan and Laiyuan were second in displacement after the Beiyang Fleet battleships and, but were deficient in speed and in firepower, where compared with temporary vessels, such as the British-built Elswick cruisers. Although its armor belt gave Laiyuan an advantage over non-protected vessels, its two-inch lacquered teak deck made it flammable in the event of a battle.
Service record
Laiyuan was laid down on 1 January 1885, launched on 3 January 1887, completed on 1 January 1888. On arrival in China in 1880, Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both assigned to the Beiyang Fleet. In the summer of 1889, both vessels were part of the flotilla let by Admiral Ding Ruchang, calling on the Russian naval base of Vladivostok. In early 1894, both vessels accompanied and on a visit to Singapore, but the flotilla was recalled to Weihaiweion the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War with the Empire of Japan. Jingyuan and Laiyuan were both in the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894. Early in the battle, the captain of Laiyuan moved aggressively against the Japanese squadron, pursuing the slower moving Japanese gunboat. Laiyuan was four times the size of the Japanese gunboat, and her guns killed the Japanese commander and ten crewmen, brought down the gunboat’s mast, destroyed the bridge and holed Akagi in eight locations. On the other hand, the quick-firing 120-mm guns of the Akagi wreaked havoc on the Laiyuan, causing a large fire, and forcing her to break off the pursuit. The fire continued to burn through the remainder of the battle, despite the efforts of the crew to extinguish it, including flooding the powder magazine. Coming under attack by the Japanese flying squadron led by Admiral Tsuboi Kozo, Laiyuan took many more hits, but refused to sink and continued to burn almost down to her waterline. At the end of the battle, her engines still operational, Laiyuan escaped to the Beiyang Navy repair base at Lushunkou, under her own power. Repairs were not completed by the time of the Battle of Lushunkou, when the remnants of the Beiyang Fleet were ordered to retreat to Weihaiwei without giving battle. During the subsequent Battle of Weihaiwei, on 5 February 1895, Laiyuan was attacked by two Japanese torpedo boats. Laiyuan was struck by a torpedo fired by, rolled over, and capsized, with a loss of approximately 170 crewmen.
