In the 1860s, an attempt was made to establish a modern navy via the British-built Osborn or "Vampire" Fleet to combat the Taiping rebels' US-built gunboats.

A series of warships were ordered from Britain and Germany in the late 1870s, and naval bases were built at Port Arthur and Weihaiwei.

Although the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan modern battleships were impervious to Japanese fire, they were unable to sink a single ship and all eight cruisers were lost.

The Nanyang Fleet was also established in 1875, and grew with mostly domestically built warships and a small number of acquisitions from Britain and Germany.

There were also plans to re-develop the fleet, with a budget of 7-8 million taels per year, including a small amount of loan from the United States of America.

One of the new ships delivered after the war with Japan, the cruiser Hai Chi, in 1911 became the first vessel flying the Yellow Dragon Flag to arrive in American waters, visiting New York City as part of a tour.

Before her adopted son, Emperor Guangxu, took over the throne in 1889, Cixi wrote out explicit orders that the navy should continue to develop and expand gradually.

Following the First Opium War, the Qing improved their naval fleet with modern ships from Europe: Battleships: Coastal Defense Ships: Cruisers: Corvettes: Flags shown are for the Imperial Chinese Navy during the period 1909 to 1911:[17] Notes:The Commodore was not a substantive rank but rather, a captain commanding a squadron.