Feng Zhou Zhan Jian (封舟戰艦) — The Ming ironclad

Illustration of a Qing period Feng Zhou, from 'Zhong Shan Chuan Xin Lu (《中山傳信錄》)'. It should be noted that Ming period Feng Zhou, above all the ironclad warship, likely looked very different from this illustration.

The so-called Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was a type of large warship built in 1568~1569 to counter the Wu Wei Chuan (烏尾船) of notorious Chinese pirate lord Zeng Yi Ben (曾一本) (Note: article available to my Supporter-tier patrons only), who had long terrorised the coasts of Guangdong Province and had outright defeated Ming navy on several occasions. 

Though unique in its kind, this formidable warships actually did not have a proper name to call its own, as it was simply referred to as "giant warship" in historical sources. It was only dubbed 'Feng Zhou Zhan Jian (封舟戰艦, lit. 'Investiture war ship') in popular discourse out of convenience, due to the fact that the warship was specifically constructed to the same size and/or quality standard as Feng Zhou (封舟, lit. 'Investiture ship'), ocean-going sailing ship specifically built for Imperial Chinese investiture missions to Ryukyu Kingdom. Despite the misleading moniker, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was purpose-built from the ground up for war, rather than converted from existing investiture ship.

Size and construction

Information about Feng Zhou Zhan Jian's dimensions and design is very incomplete, as no known blueprints or other design documents of the ship exist. From the few descriptions that survived, it's known that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a beam of 4 zhang (roughly 12.52 m or 41.08 ft), and it was known to be fitted with masts of 17~18 zhang (roughly 53.21~56.34 m or 174.57~184.84 ft) in height. Thus, it can be inferred with high confidence that a Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was approximately 53~56 m/174~184 ft long with a beam of approximately 12.5 m/41 ft (Chinese junks are generally as long as their mainmasts are tall), which was roughly comparable to HMS Victory, and in line with known sizes of (non-combat) Ryukyu investiture ships of the time.

Since Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was built in Fujian, it most likely took the form of an oversized Fu Chuan (福船), i.e. a sailing war junk with a prominent multi-storey aftercastle, fully enclosed superstructure above its main deck, as well as protective bamboo palisade around the deck and the roof of the superstructure. Likewise, it was most likely built from Chinese fir, pine and camphor wood like its lesser cousins. At least some Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had two-layered bottom planking, in keeping with the standard practice of building Ryukyu investiture ship.

The masts of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian were constructed from joining together multiple pieces of timbers and reinforcing them with iron hoops, in part due to difficulties in sourcing enough tree logs of sufficient length for such a large ship. For sails, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian employed junk sailing rig with sails made of bamboo mat backed by thick sailcloth, which were quite different from rolled bamboo mat sails used by most other Fujian warships at the time. 

Perhaps the most interesting feature of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was the iron reinforcement around its hull, which consisted of more than forty large iron bands running vertically from the keel to the gunwales, forming an external iron skeletal frame. This feature was already present on some Ryukyu investiture ships to improve hull integrity during long voyage, although for warship the amount of iron bands more than doubled (normal investiture ship only had twenty iron bands) as they now served as armour against ramming as well—a necessary precaution against Guang Chuan (廣船) built with significantly sturdier woods than ships built in Fujian.

Armaments

While Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was noted to be heavily stocked up with firearms in period sources, all but a handful of its armaments remain unknowable due to incomplete records. Only three weapons were confirmed to be equipped by Feng Zhou Zhan Jian, namely wooden Fa Gong (發熕), Pai Gan (拍竿), as well as Zhuang Liang (撞樑) for lateral ramming. However, based on inference from historical documents about war preparation against Zeng Yi Ben, it's almost certain that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian was also equipped with normal (i.e. metal) Fa Gong, Fo Lang Ji (佛郎機) and Bai Zi Chong (百子銃), iron-cased Peng Tong (噴筒) and rockets, as well as an assortment of handheld naval weapons for its crews including matchlock guns, grenades, javelins, bows and arrows, swords and shields, as well as spears.

On top of that, based on better-preserved records about diplomatic missions to Ryukyu, it is known that a contemporary Ryukyu investiture ship would be armed with 20 Fo Lang Ji, 10 Wan Kou Chong (碗口銃), 60 Xiu Chong (袖銃, lit. 'Sleeve gun'), 100 arquebuses, 1,000 javelins, 60 spears, 300 sabres, 100 rattan shields, 100 iron helmets, and 100 iron armours. It can be safely presumed that Feng Zhou Zhan Jian would be at least armed to a comparable standard as its diplomatic counterpart, if not better.

Given the time period and possible armaments of Feng Zhou Zhan Jian, it is clear that the warship wasn't designed with Age of Sail-style artillery broadside or line-of-battle tactic in mind. Instead, Feng Zhou Zhan Jian likely fought with more traditional tactics, namely using its considerable anti-personnel firepower to kill and suppress enemy ship crews, flamethrowers and rockets to set fire to enemy rigging, as well as ramming and boarding. While it did carry heavier Fa Gong, probably mounted as chase gun, that could inflict damage on enemy vessel directly, such role was generally given to smaller and more agile oared vessels in the Ming navy.

 

Crew

Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a crew of 224, which consisted of a Bu Dao (捕盜, lit. 'Thief-catcher', this was the name for a warship's captain during Ming period), 3 Duo Shou (舵手, helmsman) and 220 sailors and soldiers. Other crew positions on the ship included Liao Ding Shou (繚椗手, sail and anchor operator), Zhao Dou Shou (招斗手, solider stationed to crow's nest or fighting top), Fa Gong gunner, Fo Lang Ji gunner, arquebusier, rocketeer, Pen Tong operator, shielded javelin thrower, archer and spearman, although regrettably it's unknown how many crews were assigned to each position.

Interestingly, for such a huge warship Feng Zhou Zhan Jian had a relatively small crew contingent.