In the Beiyang Navy, he was born with a congenital deficiency. Deng Shichang is the only non-Fujian Han officer among the captains of Beiyang Navy. The xenophobia of Fujian people is a headache for Ding. Later, until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, China's Central Navy was crowned as "Fujian Navy", which was from this time.
And Deng Shichang can get along well with Fujian officers and make them accept him better. So he can stand out among his peers, and Ding leans on him like a confidant, which can be seen from Deng Shichang's title. On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, among the officers of Beiyang Navy, the highest was the prefect, followed by the company commanders, Liu and Lin. The general captains were all naval colonels (lieutenants), such as Jiyuan and Jingyuan, and the smaller warships were even lower. For example, Lin Luzhong, the captain of the Super Brave Cruiser, is a lieutenant colonel (general) and a major (garrison). Deng Shichang, on the other hand, is taller than the average captain. His position should be a general of the navy (registered as a company commander), on an equal footing with Yang Yonglin, second only to Liu Helin Taizeng, who is cared for by Li Hongzhang. Deng's Zhiyuan ship belongs to a light cruiser (fast-touch ship), but its level is actually lower than Qiu Baoren's Laiyuan and Jingyuan. They are all heavy cruisers (turret ships). Deng can get this title, obviously not because of the importance of commanding warships, but because he, as a lieutenant of China's army, has a position of joining the army or deputy commander, which is closer to the central government. If he doesn't have rich social experience, it is hard to imagine being an agent.
It is worth mentioning that the first batch of modern officers in China, such as Liu, Lin, Deng and Yang, were all sacrificed in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. It can be seen that the traditional education and bureaucratic system has its own uniqueness in selecting the basic qualities of officers.
The real Deng Shichang is also a brave and reckless officer. He is well-trained and studious, and he is also famous for doing exercises in the ocean when he goes out to sea. His troops are very strict, even harsh. Before the Dadonggou naval battle, he was being censored on the grounds that he was too strict in running the army and "flogging dead soldiers." He has been on a ship for many years, and the accident rate is the highest among the captains of Beiyang Navy. When he was the captain of a real gunboat, he stranded the warship in the wind and waves. When he was the captain of Yangwei ship, he was short of coal and drifted for a long time at sea. Once, because he was not familiar with the water situation, the propeller blades scraped to the bottom. These achievements did not affect his promotion because he had a different enterprising spirit, but as the captain, Deng's adult was also to blame.
Therefore, among sailors, Deng Shichang is called "Deng layman", which probably means "too cool". The officers and men of Beiyang Navy have a nice nickname. For example, it is vivid to call Fang Boqian a "weasel".
In fact, the description of Deng Shichang's final sacrifice is not very clear, such as his "choking dogs and sighing", "best decission" and so on. This can only be the impression of rescuing sailors at that time. It is impossible to send a reporter to dive underwater to find Deng's adult for verification. But almost everyone overlooked two important details.
First, why did Deng Shichang's Zhiyuan ship get seriously injured and its hull tilted?
That's because Deng Shichang ordered to stand out from the front, resisting almost all the firepower of the Japanese army and the First Guerrilla alone. He is not crazy, but doing his duty. At that time, the formation of Beiyang Navy was similar to the figure of eight, and the flagship was at the front, so it became the target of Japanese artillery fire. Beiyang fleet didn't expect the Japanese artillery fire to be so accurate and fierce, and was immediately knocked out of the headquarters, and the whole army was in chaos.
Deng Shichang Zhiyuan is in the left rear of Dingyuan, and the position is "Captain of Zhong Jun". Now, it is said that the commander of the direct team is different from other captains and has different responsibilities to rescue and cover the flagship. In the face of the Japanese crazy attack, he resolutely took a personalized way to complete his duties-rushing out of the team and raising the flag to attract enemy fire. The purpose of Deng's flag-raising is still controversial, but the basic conclusion is that he is not going to take over the command, but to raise a flag similar to the Japanese navy's general flag or Z-flag to show his challenge.
The result is disastrous for Zhiyuan, because Zhiyuan belongs to a light cruiser made in Britain, with thin and flexible armor, and its defense is its weakness. But its sacrifice brought Dingyuan Zhenyuan to wake up from the initial panic and rally. If it weren't for Ding, he would have been seriously injured at this time, and the outcome of this battle is still hard to predict. Deng Shichang did his duty.
Second, why did Deng Shichang fight Yoshino?
Running out of ammunition should be a fiction of literati. The real reason is that Deng Shichang calmly adopts the plane collision tactics of Riza naval battle. This is the latest large-scale naval battle before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and it is also the most referential one. In that World War I, the Italians changed the war situation by collision-of course, Deng Shichang has no way of knowing that this was the last successful collision of the capital ship in the history of naval warfare. This shows Deng Shichang's superb tactical accomplishment. His Zhiyuan ship is the fastest in beiyang fleet, with a hidden angle of attack under the bow. He also knew his opponent, so he directly attacked the Japanese cruiser Yoshino, not an armored ship like Birui. Yoshino is a British warship. Its artillery has a fast firing rate, but its armor is thin. If it really hit Yoshino, he should be more sure to send it to the bottom of the sea.
In fact, ten years later, the Yoshino did sink. It was accidentally hit by the Japanese navy's own warships and sank immediately. Deng Shichang's choice of targets is quite calm.
As for Yoshino being faster than Zhiyuan, that's not a problem, because Japanese troops were queuing at that time, and Yoshino was also queuing. In the face of collision, it can't change its position and speed casually, otherwise it will be in danger of hitting a Japanese ship back and forth. This is equivalent to a dead target!
To be exact, Zhiyuan is not "chasing", but "intercepting" Yoshino. Therefore, even if Yoshino is fast, he can't give full play to his mobile advantage.
Deng Shichang is an excellent professional naval officer!
Zhiyuan ship failed. Traditionally, it was sunk by a Japanese torpedo However, the actual data shows that Japanese torpedoes were not launched in the naval battle. At that time, the torpedo level was very low and it was not suitable for attacking maneuvering targets. The attack of loong Fu Lightning Ship on Xijing Maru also failed. At this time, torpedoes are more suitable for attacking anchored fixed targets. Because the sinking of Zhiyuan ship is too similar to the sinking of typical mines, it is generally believed that Japanese shells detonated the torpedo of Zhiyuan ship.
Personally, I think that the sinking of Zhiyuan, Deng Shichang's careless character and fighting style may also have played a certain role. Because before beiyang fleet entered the war, all ships were explicitly ordered to throw torpedoes into the water to avoid martyrdom. However, Zhiyuan Ship was unable to throw torpedoes in its own launch tube due to some fault (confirmed by Zhiyuan Ship sailors). Deng Shichang's response is: Let nature take its course. Without taking active measures to troubleshoot, I rushed into the battle with this "dangerous goods". It was this laissez-faire torpedo that caused the destruction of Zhiyuan.
Maybe the real Deng Shichang is real. Let Guangxu write a poem for him to evaluate him: "This day is full of tears and has a strong naval force."