Chinese navy suitable to be scrapped according to the Dutch newspaper Nieuwe Tilburgsche Courant dated 21 July 1937

An item dealing with the Chinese armed forces compared with the Japanese reported that the Chinese navy was not a match for the Japanese. She possessed five cruisers smaller as 3.000 tons and all bought in 1898. The river flotillas included forty gunboats and further more were three school ships and a plane mother ship available. The whole fleet was nothing most as old rust. The personnel strength numbered 15.581 men included 2.604 officers.