Ping Hai served as the flagship of the
Republic of China Navy (ROCN) since April 1937. As one of the most powerful surface combatants within the ROCN,
Ping Hai was subjected to aerial attacks by the
Imperial Japanese Navy since the
Battle of Shanghai, but she was not until 23 September, during the Japanese assault on the Kiangyin Fortress (which guarded the segment of
Yangtze River near
Nanking), for
Ping Hai to finally succumb with her sister ship to airstrikes launched from both the
aircraft carrier and airfields around occupied Shanghai. She was then re-floated by the Japanese in 1938 as sunken ships would not be as badly corroded by river water as they would be by sea water. Originally the ship was to be transferred to the
Collaborationist navy under Wang Jing-Wei, but the Japanese elected to seize her instead and had
Ping Hai towed to
Sasebo, outfitted first as a barracks hulk and ultimately as the
escort ship Yasoshima on 10 June 1944. She was re-rated first as a coastal defense ship and then as an escort vessel. The ship lost all cruiser armaments but received radar sets as well as standard Japanese dual-purpose and anti-aircraft weapons.
Yasoshima was deployed for combat operations on 25 September 1944, participating in the
Battle of Leyte Gulf and escorting troop convoys. Aircraft from the carriers and caught her escorting two merchantmen west of
Luzon and sank all three on 25 November 1944. ==References==