The fleet when formed was made up of five river gunboats, the Lisui, Liji, Jiangqing, Jiangping, and the Jiangtong.

[1] In February 1939, the Japanese navy ceased to have political influence over Manchukuo, and many of its naval instructors were forced to withdraw.

But the Japanese later chose to reinforce it with the Shuntian, Yangmin, Dingbian, Qinren, Datong, Limin, Xichun, Yangchun, Xingya, and the Xingren.

The fleet was involved in several border skirmishes, such as the dispute of the Ganchazi (in Japanese) or Bolshoi (in Russian) island, over the period of 19–30 June 1937, in which they managed to sink a Soviet gunboat.

They were also involved in the skirmish of Xingkai Lake, in May 1942, in which two Soviet airplanes strafed two Manchukuo patrol boats.