Light Cruiser Tongji | World War II Database

Tongji

Country	China
Ship Class	Tongji-class Light Cruiser
Builder	Fuzhou Arsenal, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
Sunk	11 Aug 1937
Displacement	1900 tons standard
Length	253 feet
Beam	34 feet
Draft	16 feet
Machinery	Four boilers, one shaft
Bunkerage	200 tons of coal
Power Output	1600 SHP
Speed	12 knots
Crew	335
Armament	2x 152/50 guns, 5x 120/45 guns, 3x 57/40 Hotchkiss machine guns, 8x 37/23 machine guns
Armor	None

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

Although her keel was laid down as a transport, what was to become the unprotected cruiser Tongji became a warship due to the demands of the Chinese Qing Dynasty Shanghai Flotilla. Still not yet renamed to Tongji for several more weeks, she became the first steel-hulled ship built in China. At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Navy leadership decided to block the mouth of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China to prevent the Japanese Navy from sailing up river toward the capital Nanjing. To do so, a number of ships were scuttled near the town of Jiangyin, Tongji among them.

Tongji Operational Timeline

11 Aug 1937

Tongji was scuttled in the Yangtze River at Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, China.

Photographs