THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95. 606 four machine guns besides her torpedo tubes. Her weak point was that her speed was not equal to that of the more lightly built boats that formed therest of the flotilla.

With thisarmy Admiral Ito's fleet was to cooperate,but it was now much more numerous than that which he had led in the fight off the Yalu. He had in all forty-one ships, big and little,under his orders. This fleet wasorganised in groups of ships, known as the " Main Squadron," the ist or Flying Squadron, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th squadrons, and the ist, 2nd and 3rd torpedo flotillas. The Main Squadron consisted of the four big cruisers which had formed its chief strength at the Yalu— the Matsushima (now repaired andagain flying the Admiral'sflag), the Lkitsushima,the Hashidate, and the Chiyoda. The ist or Flying Squadron was identical with the "Van Squadron at the Yalu" (Yoshino, Akitsushima, Takachico and NaniwaKan). The 2nd squadron (whichmight very well have been called the third) included two ships that had fought at the Yalu— namely, the oldironclads Fuso and Hiyei, the Kongo,a sister ship to the Hiyei (built at Hull in 1877), and the Takao, a modern third-class cruiser, unprotected (tonnage 1,764, speed 15 knots), armed with four six-inch Krupps, a quick-firer, and two torpedo tubes. She was built inJapan in 1888. Altogether the 2nd squadron with the three old ironcladsadded to the smallcruiser was not a very formidable element in the fleet. The 3rd squadron was made up of five small cruisers. The flagship was the Tsukushi,built at Elswick in 1881 for tlaeChilians,andoriginally known as the Arturo Prat, transferred by purchase to Japan. She was a 16-knot steamer of 1,380 tons, armed with six heavy Armstrongs (two of them 10-inch guns) and four small quick-firers. The four other cruisers were steamersbuilt inJapan in the 'eighties, three of them, the Musashi,KatsuragiandYamato,being sister ships. Their tonnage was 1,480, speed about thirteen knots;armament, sevenKrupps, four machine guns, and two torpedotubes.

The wholeexpedition, under the escort of the fleet, assembled inTa-lien-wan Bay at the beginningof the thirdweekofJanuary,1895. Ta-lienwan was within easy steam of the whole north coastofShan-tung. Afteracarefulreconnaissance theBay of Yung-cheng,just inside the north-east point of the Shan-tung promontory,had been selected as the place where the invaders were to land. But in order to mislead the Chinese, demonstrations were made against other points along the coast. On January 18thRear-Admiral Tsuboi,with three ships of the flying squadron, the Yoshino, Akitsushima andNaniwa Kan,left Ta-lien-wan,and appearedbefore Tung-chow, a cityon thenorth coast of Shan-tung,to the west ofChee-foo. There weregoodpiersand wharves on the sea front of the town,which wasdefended by two forts. The Japanese had spread a rumour that the Shan-tung expedition was to land at this place, and the local facilities for disembarkation, and the nearness of the port to Ta-lien-wan and PortArthur,made this seem verylikely. Theimpression was increased by tlae visitof the cruisers which, on the afternoon of the 18th,and again on the morning of the 19th, exchanged some shots with the forts, although on bothoccasions aiming was a difficult matter, for both actions took place in the midst of blinding snowstorms.

On the morning of January 19th Oyama put to sea with the whole expedition embarked on fifty transports which were grouped in three divisions. AdmiralIto's fleet,besides providing for the attack at Tung-chow, kept a squadron watchingthe Chinese fleet at Wei-hai-wei,while the rest of the ships available steamed with the transports. The three divisions of the transport fleetreached the bayof Yung-cheng onthe 20th, 2ist, and 23rd. Their arrival was a complete surprise to the Chinese, who fully expected that the invaderswouldlandnot to the eastward but to the westwardof Wei-hai-wei, and had been sending off reinforcements to the forts at Tung-chow.

Tlae Fourth Squadron was made up of the Akagi(repaired since the Yalu), and four other gunboats,practically identical with her in structure and armament, the Maya, Oshima, Chiokai and Atago. There were also four small armed steamers, not attached to any of the five squadrons, but used as despatch boats. The first torpedo boat flotilla consisted of five boats, the second of six,and the third of four. Inthe first squadron there was a large torpedo boat, the Kotaka,built by Messrs. Yarrow, at Poplar,and sometimes describedasan armouredtorpedoboat, because her engine compartment wasprotected with inch platesof steel. She was armed with There was a feeble attempt to oppose the landing at Yung-cheng. As the first boats from the transportspulled towards the shore through a heavy snowshower, a partyof Chinese troops, about 200 strong, opened fire on them with four guns. The boats were signalled back to the protectionof the ships, the fleet began to shell