The Ning Hai () was a light cruiser in the Chinese fleet before World War II and the lead ship of her class. It was laid down and launched before the dust of Mukden Incident settled, meaning that the progress of its construction ran far more smoothly than its sistership Ping Hai. Ning Hai has a small hangar for two seaplanes; two Aichi AB-3 biplanes, one bought from Japan and one built locally using a spare engine and domestic lumbers, were assigned to it. There was no catapult, and the seaplanes were hoisted onto and deployed from the cruiser via a crane.