In the Battle of Qianri Moss Bay, the navies of the two countries fought three battles, namely the "Battle of Langqiao," the "Battle of Fengshan Island," and the "Battle of the East China Sea." Among them, the "Battle of the East China Sea" was a large-scale naval battle after the world navy entered the era of steel steaming, and after Japan's defeat in the war, it was vigorously developed ironclad ships, which can be said to have been greatly influenced by the "Battle of the East China Sea."

In this naval battle, the victory of the Qianguo shipbuilding fleet over the Japanese fleet was not simply a victory or defeat between the navies of the two countries, but meant the rise of a new naval tactic in the form of a column formation and a large number of warships equipped with large-caliber breech guns capable of firing quickly. tactics that are still valued by the world's navies", and column tactics are still just a new theory that has not been tested in actual combat. From the day of the Battle of the East China Sea, a new page was opened in the history of the world's navies.

At that time, the Japanese fleet, which had two ironclad ships unique in Asia, although on the surface its strength surpassed that of the Qianguo shipbuilding fleet, its technical equipment lagged far behind that of the Qianguo, and this was undoubtedly an important factor in the defeat of the naval battle. In naval warfare in the late 19th century, artillery was the main weapon relied on to attack the enemy and defend itself, and the Qianguo fleet was equipped with advanced breech-loading guns, which could fire quickly, while the Japanese fleet was mostly equipped with old-style breech-loading guns with a slow rate of fire, and the rate of fire was extremely slow. According to the British navy, which was watching the battle, the firepower of the Qianguo fleet at that time exceeded that of Japan by more than three times, and in connection with the fact that the Qianguo warships concentrated their firepower on several Japanese warships on many occasions during the naval war, the firepower advantage in the actual confrontation was even greater. Such a comparison of firepower can no longer be summed up by a simple disparity, and the Qianguo Shipbuilding Fleet has an overwhelming advantage.

In addition, a large number of Qianguo warships were also equipped with a large number of new machine guns that were rarely equipped by the world's navies at that time, and after these machine guns hit the Japanese warships, they could cause terrible casualties, and more seriously, they would cause a decline in morale, which was the reason why the Japanese warships chose to surrender after the naval battle ran out of ammunition, but this point was attributed to the fact that most of the shells used by the Japanese fleet were solid shells that could not be exploded. Unless these shells hit the waterline of an enemy ship and cause water ingress, they will cause at most a small number of casualties after hitting the target. The most powerful ammunition in the Japanese fleet was flowering shells, which at that time mainly relied on imports, but when attacking forts and urban areas, the most powerful shells in the Japanese fleet were so wasted that when the Japanese fleet faced the Qianguo fleet, the flowering shells were seriously insufficient, and they could not effectively damage the Qianguo warships.

For the defeat of this naval battle, which had a great impact on Japan's national fortunes, most of the researchers in Japan attributed the responsibility to the poor quality of the Japanese navy's soldiers, but a slight comparison of the other aspect of artillery shooting, the proficiency of the operation, we can see that after the Mumo period to the Meiji Restoration, the quality of the Japanese navy's soldiers was actually greatly improved, and the Japanese navy's gunner skills were not bad. It was only because the Japanese gunners operated heavy breech guns, taking the "Longxiang" as an example, in actual combat, the 165-mm guns of the "Longxiang" were faced with a large number of gunner attrition, the constant interference of fragments and machine gun fire, as well as the damage of the guns themselves, insufficient ammunition and many other unfavorable factors, and its actual rate of fire greatly exceeded the training in peacetime, and it has to be said that it was inseparable from the training degree of the Japanese naval officers and men in peacetime and their heroic performance in wartime.

In modern naval warfare, the rate of fire of artillery depended to a great extent on the proficiency of officers and men, and it can be seen from the battles that the combat qualities of the officers and men of the Japanese Navy, especially those of the officers and men of the two ironclad ships that were the main force of the fleet, were not much worse than those of the officers and men of the Qianguo Navy.

After understanding that the victory in the naval battle in the East China Sea was primarily a victory of new technology over old technology, the Japanese had a deeper understanding of the reasons for the defeat of the Japanese fleet in the naval battle. When faced with the new Asian No. 1 ship, the Japanese fleet, which had been tacitly abiding by the rules since it had two ironclad ships and won the crown of the No. 1 ship in Asia, had a huge gap in technology and equipment when faced with the new No. 1 ship fleet in Asia that had risen in 1874, and this gap was fatal for the modern naval warfare, which was mainly based on technical equipment as the carrier and full of technological competition, and it meant that even if the servicemen of the two countries made the same efforts and sacrifices, the final results would be completely different.

Because this naval battle ended with the defeat of the Japanese navy. In some studies of the Japanese Navy and the naval battles in the East China Sea, which have a deep tradition of "shame culture", they have been unable to technically explain the failures, and have blindly attributed the reasons for the failure of the Japanese Navy to the timidity and incompetence of the naval personnel. A few captains (the surrender of several captains such as Keinori Fukushima was unforgivable in the eyes of the Japanese indignant youth) or a group of soldiers could have won the battle. However, when it is objectively understood that the Japanese fleet is completely inferior to its opponent in terms of the style and speed of its warships, the number and rate of fire of its guns, and the supply and effectiveness of its shells, people cannot imagine that a change of commander, a change of captains, or a change of a group of soldiers can have a qualitative impact on the outcome of this naval battle. It is true that soldiers are born to win, but there are some battles that soldiers cannot win no matter how hard they try, and this is the gap in technology. In the War of the Shogunate that overthrew the shogunate, when Japanese knights in splendid armor and swords fell in droves under the Gatling machine guns of the Meiji government army, and when the Satsuma samurai in the Moss Bay jungle were crushed in front of the Krupp breech cannons, Habekaith machine guns, and Hayashi machine guns of the dry army, history has made it abundantly clear that this is no longer an era in which courage alone can win wars.

――――Dividing Line――――

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