Number 68 (), also known as the Monfalcone large cruiser, was a planned, unique, armored cruiser ordered for the Republic of China Navy. The ship was never completed due to the start of World War I and was eventually scrapped. The ship was not given a name, being known only the yard construction number, 68.
Background
In 1911, the fledgling Provisional Government of the Republic of China had inherited a small, obsolete navy from the former Qing Dynasty. The Qing Imperial Chinese Navy had been in the midst of a naval rearmament, dubbed the "New Fleet Programme" since 1910 until the Xinhai Revolution overthrew 268 year old Manchu rule. The new Yuan Shikai-led government quickly embarked on acquiring a loan of $125 million from the six great powers to stabilize the shaky economy and to rearm the Republic of China Navy. While funding for the already under construction Chang Feng-class destroyers and two of the three Chao Ho-class cruisers was tentatively secured by 1913, several ships under construction which had been ordered under the previous Qing government were sold off. These ships were light cruiser Fei Hung() which was sold to the Kingdom of Greece, and the destroyers Lung Tuan () and Ching Po () were sold to Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy respectively.
Immediately after signing the agreement though, the Chinese Navy, under Minister of the Navy, Liu Guanxiong, became convinced that cruisers would be better to acquire rather than destroyers and on June 13, submitted a request for three ton cruisers armed with four guns each. AG Vulcan immediately backed out of the deal as it was uninterested in building cruisers, while STT was uninterested in building the small destroyers. In order to salvage such a large deal, Škoda became a majority shareholder of the new Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT) shipbuilding company in Monfalcone to fulfill the order. On June 27, 1913, the director general of Škoda informed the Chinese Beiyang government that the first loan was reduced to £870,000, which would only be enough to build one large cruiser rather than three. Škoda recommended that instead, for the same amount of money, CNT could build three, small cruisers. While initially this was rejected by the Chinese Navy, after additional funds were clawed back from renegotiating the £2,000,000 loan for artillery became available. On August 26, 1913, an agreement on the terms of the first loan was made, for three ton cruisers which would become the Number 64-class cruisers. The agreement on the second loan was made on October 20, 1913, for thirty six field guns and seventy two mountain guns from Skoda, and one 4,800 ton cruiser built to a revised September 1913 specification.
Construction & Design The Number 68 cruiser was a unique ship in terms of layout with a mix of older, conservative and newer, advanced design elements. Modern Parson steam turbines were chosen over older reciprocating steam engines, but retained a pre-dreadnought style mixed battery, with a heavy Secondary armament. In older source material such as Conway Publishings Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 the specifications of the Number 68 was listed with a length of , a beam of , and a draught of . The armament was given as four twin mounted /L50 guns, twelve single /45 guns, ten single 10 /50 AA guns, four single /42 anti-aircraft guns, sixteen single /42 machine guns, eight single /80 machine guns and two, single torpedo tubes. The ship was protected by a armour belt, a main deck of , and turrets and control tower. The Engine output in Conway's is given as .
See also Number 64-class cruiser - World War I Chinese cruisers that were not completed by the end of the war Ersatz Zenta-class cruiser - World War I Austro-Hungarian cruiser design series, never built La Motte-Picquet-class cruiser - World War I French cruiser design series, never built German FK cruiser designs - World War I German cruiser design series, never built
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