McGiffin was assigned to Admiral Ting Ju ch'ang's Beiyang fleet (literally "Northern Fleet").
The fleet was partially organized and trained by McGiffin, and he would serve as an executive officer aboard the Chinese battleship Zhen Yuan during the Battle of the Yellow Sea (1894).
He was severely wounded during the battle and returned to the United States, suffering from mental instability due to his wounds.

McGiffin was eventually committed to the Post Graduate Hospital in New York City where, after tricking hospital orderlies into giving him a revolver from his trunk, he committed suicide on February 11, 1897.
McGiffin was assigned to Admiral Ting Ju ch'ang's Beiyang fleet (literally "Northern Fleet"). The fleet was partially organized and trained by McGiffin, and he would serve as an executive officer aboard the Chinese battleship Zhen Yuan during the Battle of the Yellow Sea (1894). He was severely wounded during the battle and returned to the United States, suffering from mental instability due to his wounds.
McGiffin was eventually committed to the Post Graduate Hospital in New York City where, after tricking hospital orderlies into giving him a revolver from his trunk, he committed suicide on February 11, 1897.
Philo McGiffin