War News:1 November 1929 - Wartime funding increases allow
Chen Wei, a second
Chi An-class light cruiser, to be laid down.
20 November 1929 - The Imperial Chinese Navy today announced that a Russian convoy bound for Vladivostok was intercepted by a patrol force composed of the battlecruisers
Kai Chi,
Chao Yung, and
Hai An, the armored cruisers
Hae Yang and
Ping Hai, and several lighter warships. According to the reports of the Chinese Navy, the eight-ship convoy was escorted by a battlecruiser, five light cruisers, and eight destroyers, and was completely destroyed. Russian sailors recovered from the water identified the Russian warships as the
Rymnik-class battlecruiser
Fokshani, the
Yakhont-class scout cruisers
Ameytst,
Sapfir,
Vyacheslav, and
Diana, the
Novik-class scout cruiser
Flora, and assorted destroyers of the
Verni,
Ostri, and
Metki classes.
21 November 1929 - Russian authorities parade the destroyer
Verni and a battlecruiser which they claim to be
Fokshani but which appears to have the name
Ochakov under a thin layer of paint in an attempt to discredit the Chinese Navy's claims of completely destroying a convoy bound for Vladivostok.
23 November 1929 - Rumors of an American spy being caught attempting to break into Navy offices receive wide publication in conservative Chinese papers. The Minister of the Navy and several government spokesmen publicly deny that any American spies have been caught, and officials of the Ministry of Education and Public Information begin meeting with the editors and owners of the newspapers to discuss ways to improve the reliability of wartime news reports. In unrelated news, the American naval attache is being replaced due to his failing health.
5 December 1929 - The vagaries of wartime finances lead to the suspension of work on the battlecruiser
Lai Yuan and the light cruisers
Chi An and
Chen Wei.
4 January 1930 - Work on the battlecruiser
Lai Yuan resumes after the Grand Council issues the first war bonds.
23 January 1930 - The Royal Navy decides to remind China that it exists, and the battlecruiser HMS
Inconstant sinks a merchant plying the coastal route between Shanghai and Quingdao. While Imperial Chinese Navy surface forces in the area fail to make contact with the battlecruiser, they do recover survivors from the merchant ship, and the submarine S-31 manages to torpedo - but not sink -
Inconstant.
8 February 1930 - A brief and inconclusive engagement takes place between Russian and Chinese battlecruisers off Phusan.
20 March 1930 - The Royal Navy sends a pair of destroyers to attack a Chinese convoy bound for the naval base at Phusan, and both are sunk by the escorting Chinese destroyer flotilla.
1 May 1930 - Imperial Chinese Navy spokesmen announced that a Chinese force including the battlecruisers
Hai An and
Chao Yung intercepted and destroyed a British squadron composed of the heavy cruiser
Argonaut and four destroyers in the La Perouse Straits on 27 April.
27 May 1930 - The Chinese light cruiser
Fei Yun is torpedoed and sunk in an engagement with three British destroyers while protecting coastal shipping near Shanghai. Two of the three British destroyers are sunk after the
Fei Yun-class cruisers
Lung Hsiang and
Ching Yuan arrive on the scene, but post-war research indicates that the lone surviving destroyer - HMS
Martin of the
Hope class - is the one which torpedoed
Fei Yun. As a historical curiosity, this the third cruiser of the modern Imperial Chinese Navy and the second cruiser of its class to bear the name Fei Yun, and all three have been sunk by torpedoes.
4 July 1930 - Work on the light cruiser
Chen Wei resumes.
August 1930 - The Navy agrees to suspend work on the battlecruiser
Lai Yuan to free up resources to supply an Army offensive.
8 September 1930 - Work on the light cruiser
Chi An resumes.
With the Chinese Army waging a moderately successful campaign along the Chinese-Russian border and social unrest threatening Russia's ability to continue the war, the British and Russian governments approach the Chinese and American governments through neutral parties to negotiate a peace treaty, which is signed 10 October. The treaty grants China some minor concessions and territories, but rumors abound that the Army and Navy are unhappy with the treaty and conservatives suggest that China could have secured much better terms, pointing to the widely-reported protests and demonstrations which had been taking place in Russia.
Domestic News:
November 1930:
- The aging armored cruisers
Ning Hai and
Nan Chen are sold for scrap to reduce expenses in the wake of post-war budget cuts, and the modern heavy cruisers
Yang Wei and
Chi Yuan are transferred to the Fujian and Guangdong Fleets to replace them.
May 1931:
- Due to the tense state of Sino-British relations, the Imperial Chinese Navy transfers the majority of its modern warships to the South China Sea.
October 1931:
- Chinese warships on maneuvers in the South China Sea sink a British fishing vessel which blundered into the area. The Chinese Navy maintains that the fault lies with the British seamen, who should have known better than to sail into restricted waters and failed to acknowledge the signals of Chinese warships in the area.
February 1932:
- Articles about the 'battleship gap' between the Imperial Chinese Navy and the British Royal Navy are published widely in domestic newspapers. The resultant 'battleship scare' prompts the Grand Council to authorize additional funding for the Navy and demands that the Navy lay down three additional capital ships.
March 1932:
- The light cruiser
Chen Wei commissions, becoming the first
Chi An-class cruiser to enter service.
April 1932:
- Rumor has it that the war party in the Grand Council is pushing for China to take action against British aggression.
July 1932:
- The light cruiser
Chi An commissions.
August 1932:
- Work on the battlecruiser
Lai Yuan, suspended since August 1930, resumes, and the Navy announces a new design competition.
Foreign News:1931:
- In February, civil war threatens to break out in Albania and the Chinese government pushes for an international peacekeeping force to stabilize the situation. Order is restored and Albanian independence maintained, but the British government criticizes the Chinese government's "high-handed, aggressive, and expansionist" behavior during the crisis. Observers note that unusual numbers of British regular and territorial forces were seen debarking from ships arriving in Egypt shortly after the international force established order in Albania.
- In March, rebellion breaks out in Java, and the Chinese government forms a coalition with France, Siam, Japan, and the Netherlands to restore order. Great Britain again criticizes Chinese handling of the situation, and observers note unusually high numbers of British regulars and ships in Singapore.
- In July, the situation in Albania deteriorates, and a regional war breaks out as the local powers sense opportunities for territorial aggrandizement. A spokesman for the Chinese government accuses Russia of meddling in the region and bringing about the latest round of conflicts.
- In August, the Venezuelan government is toppled after disputed elections, and Great Britain occupies the country to 'restore order' while the eyes of the world are focused on the Balkan troubles. The Chinese government makes a half-hearted attempt to turn the unilateral British occupation into an international peacekeeping force, but American disinterest and the Continental European Powers' preoccupation with the situation in the Balkans undermine the efforts of the Chinese diplomatic corps, and eventually the project is abandoned as the British grip on Venezuela tightens.
1932:
- With the eyes of the Continental European Powers still fixed upon the Balkans, Great Britain invades Finland and rapidly crushes Finnish resistance.