 During the opening naval battle of the First Sino-Japanese War, "Tsao Kiang" was captured by the Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser during the Battle of Pungdo on 25 July 1894.Commissioned into the Japanese Navy as a prize of war on 21 September 1894, it was used as a patrol boat along the coastline of Korea during the remainder of that conflict.The ship was renamed "Sōkō", based on the Japanese pronunciation of her original name.