Just prior to Ye Ju's attack of the presidential palace on 16 June 1922, Sun Yat-sen fled to the Guangzhou naval yard[5] and took refuge aboard the cruiser SS Haiqi (then Hai Ch'i).

[11] Yongfeng and other ships then fought past Pearl River fortresses controlled by Chen Jiongming[12] while launching assaults and negotiating with the Guangzhou leadership for about 50 days.

In November 1925, the Nationalist navy was placed under the direction of the Soviet adviser Andrei S. Bubnov, who named the Communist Li Zhilong as its head.

Hubei's provincial cultural department received permission to plan the recovery of Zhongshan in 1986,[9] and the wreck was salvaged from the Yangtze on 28 January 1997.

[9] The museum is located in Jinkou Subdistrict of Wuhan's suburban Jiangxia District,[15] some 25 km southwest of downtown Wuchang.