The Beiyang Fleet

Beiyang (literally meaning "the northern ocean") Fleet was established by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1871 as one of four modernized regional navies when the dynasty faced a crisis and launched a series of reforms.

Though it was the weakest among the four, the Beiyang Fleet got a big boost when Viceroy Li Hongzhang allotted funding to it in the 1880s.

By the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War, it was in theory the most powerful fleet in Asia, with two battleships, eight cruisers, six gunboats, four torpedo boats and more auxiliary ships.