French cruiser D'Assas

D'Assas was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The D'Assas-class cruisers were ordered as part of a construction program directed at strengthening the fleet's cruiser force. At the time, France was concerned with the growing naval threat of the Italian and German fleets, and the new cruisers were intended to serve with the main fleet, and overseas in the French colonial empire. D'Assas was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, was protected by an armor deck that was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick, and was capable of steaming at a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).

D'Assas
History
France
Name: D'Assas
Builder: Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire
Laid down: 1894
Launched: 28 March 1896
Completed: March 1898
Stricken: 1914
Fate: Broken up
General characteristics
Class and type: D'Assas-class cruiser
Displacement: 3,962 long tons (4,026 t)
Length: 96.14 m (315 ft 5 in) pp
Beam: 13.67 m (44 ft 10 in)
Draft: 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
  • 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
  • 2 × screw propellers
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 370–392
Armament:
Armor:

D'Assas initially served with the Mediterranean Squadron after entering service in 1898, and by 1901, she had been transferred to the Northern Squadron. During this period, she was occupied with routine peacetime training exercises with the rest of the main French fleets in home waters. In 1904, she was assigned to France's cruiser squadron in East Asia, and the following year, she assisted with the unsuccessful attempt to re-float the armored cruiser Sully after it ran aground. D'Assas passed the next several years uneventfully and was struck from the naval register in 1914; she was then sold to ship breakers.

Design
Main article: D'Assas-class cruiser

In response to a war scare with Italy in the late 1880s, the French Navy embarked on a major construction program in 1890 to counter the threat of the Italian fleet and that of Italy's ally Germany. The plan called for a total of seventy cruisers for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire. The D'Assas class, which also included Du Chayla and Cassard, was ordered as part of the program, and was very similar to the earlier Friant-class cruisers.[1][2]

D'Assas was 96.14 m (315 ft 5 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 13.67 m (44 ft 10 in) and a draft of 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in). She displaced 3,962 long tons (4,026 t). Her crew varied over the course of her career, and consisted of 370–392 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by twenty coal-burning Lagrafel d'Allest water-tube boilers that were ducted into three funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) for a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[2] She had a cruising radius of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 20 knots.[3]

The ship was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns. They were placed in individual pivot mounts; one was on the forecastle, two were in sponsons abreast the forward conning tower, and the last was on the stern. These were supported by a secondary battery of four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, which were carried in pivot mounts in the fore and aft conning towers, one on each side per tower. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and five 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder guns. She was also armed with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick, along with 100 mm plating on the conning tower.[2]

Service history
D'Assas steaming at high speed

D'Assas was laid down at the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard in Nantes in 1894. She was launched on 28 March 1896 and was completed in March 1898, the last member of her class to enter service.[2][4] She entered service in time to take part in the annual fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron, France's primary battle fleet. The exercises that year lasted from 5 to 25 July.[5] The next year, she was formally assigned to the Squadron. At that time, the unit consisted of six pre-dreadnought battleships, three armored cruisers, seven other protected cruisers, and several smaller vessels.[6]

By January 1901, D'Assas had been assigned to the Northern Squadron, which was stationed in Brest, France.[7] The squadron at that time consisted of two pre-dreadnoughts, four ironclads, four coastal defense ships, two armored cruisers, and one other protected cruiser, along with several smaller vessels.[8] That year, the annual fleet maneuvers were conducted from 3 to 28 July. During the exercises, the Northern Squadron steamed south for joint maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron. The Northern Squadron ships formed part of the hostile force, and as it was entering the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, represented a German squadron attempting to meet its Italian allies. In August and September, the Northern Squadron conducted amphibious assault exercises. On 28 August, they escorted a group of troop ships from Brest to La Rochelle. The ships conducted a simulated bombardment of the port, neutralized the coastal defenses, and put some 6,000 men ashore.[9] D'Assas remained in the unit through 1902.[10]

By 1904, D'Assas had been assigned to the Division navale d'Extrême-Orient et du Pacifique occidental (Naval Division of the Far East and Western Pacific), which also included the armored cruisers Gueydon and Sully. D'Assas was tasked with escorting the four destroyers Pistolet, Javeline, Mousquet, and Fronde to the East Asia station, but repeated engine problems with D'Assas forced the destroyers to proceed independently. The cruiser, meanwhile, had to stop for repairs in Algiers in French Algeria and then again at Lubang Buaya in the Dutch East Indies. After arriving in Indochina, D'Assas joined the rest of the unit. On 8 February 1905, while steaming with D'Assas and Gueydon, Sully ran aground and could not free herself. D'Assas and Gueydon took off her crew and began salvage efforts, but the cruiser could not be pulled free, and eventually broke in two.[11][12]

Having returned to France by 1908, Châteaurenault was selected for conversion into a fast minelayer, along with her sister ship Cassard.[13] After several uneventful years, D'Assas was struck from the naval register in 1914 and sold for scrap; she was the only member of her class to have been discarded before the start of World War I.[4]

Notes
  1. Ropp, pp. 195–197.
  2. Gardiner, p. 311.
  3. France, p. 32.
  4. Gardiner & Gray, p. 193.
  5. Leyland 1899, pp. 210–212.
  6. Brassey 1899, p. 71.
  7. Jordan & Caresse 2017, p. 218.
  8. Leyland 1901, p. 72.
  9. Leyland 1902, pp. 119–125.
  10. Brassey 1902, p. 48.
  11. Garbett, pp. 708–709.
  12. Jordan & Caresse 2019, pp. 132–133.
  13. Burgoyne, p. 58.

References
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1899). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 70–80. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1902). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 47–55. OCLC 496786828.
  • Burgoyne, Alan H. (ed.). "The Dual Alliance: The French Navy". The Navy League Annual, 1908–1909. London: The Navy League: 51–59. OCLC 861240927.
  • "France". Notes on the Year's Naval Progress. Washington, D.C.: United States Office of Naval Intelligence. XV: 27–41. July 1896. OCLC 727366607.
  • Garbett, H., ed. (June 1904). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLVIII (316): 707–711. OCLC 1077860366.
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
  • Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
  • Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
  • Leyland, John (1899). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter IX: Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 210–218. OCLC 496786828.
  • Leyland, John (1901). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter IV: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 71–79. OCLC 496786828.
  • Leyland, John (1902). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter VI: Foreign Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 119–129. OCLC 496786828.
  • Ropp, Theodore (1987). Roberts, Stephen S. (ed.). The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871–1904. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
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