Japan: 8 cruisers, 1 old battleship, 1 old “belted cruiser,” 1 gunboat,
and 1 armed liner.
China: 4 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 gunboats, with (coming from the
Yalu) 1 battleship, 1 gunboat, and 2 torpedo boats.
The Japanese fleet fought by signals throughout; the Chinese fought
without signals, on a prearranged plan. In _materiel_, so far as ships
went, the fleets were about on a par in fighting value. Actually, the
Japanese were superior—in part from the possession of Q.F. guns, in
part because the Chinese were very badly supplied with shell. Had they
had a good supply of shell, there is little question but that, with
their preponderance of large calibre guns, they would have destroyed
the Japanese fleet, especially as Admiral Ito made a considerable error
at the outset.
[Illustration: ADMIRAL ITO.]