The Dingyuan class consisted of a pair of ironclad warships—Dingyuan and Zhenyuan—built for the Imperial Chinese Navy in the 1880s. They were the first ships of that size to be built for the Chinese Navy, having been constructed by Stettiner Vulcan AG in Germany. Originally expected to be a class of 12 ships, before being reduced to three and then two, with Jiyuan having been reduced in size to that of a protected cruiser.

The 30.5 cm Mantel Ring Kanone L/25 was a 30.5 cm 25 caliber long Krupp Mantel Ring Kanone. It was a further development of the earlier 30.5 cm MRK L/22. It came in different models. The Chinese Navy used the gun on board the Dingyuan-class ironclads. The Dutch Army used one of these models as coastal artillery. Due to changes in the interior configuration of the gun, this was basically a shorter version of the 30.5 cm MRK L/35.