French cruiser Amiral Charner

Coordinates: 33°21′N 34°54′E / 33.350°N 34.900°E / 33.350; 34.900
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For other ships with the same name, see French ship Amiral Charner.

Amiral Charner at anchor, c. 1897
History
France
NameAmiral Charner
NamesakeAdmiral Léonard Charner
Builder
Arsenal de Rochefort
Laid downJune 1889
Launched18 March 1893
Commissioned26 August 1895
FateSunk, 8 February 1916
General characteristics
Class and typeAmiral Charner-class armored cruiser
Displacement4,748 t (4,673 long tons)
Length110.2 m (361 ft 7 in)
Beam14.04 m (46 ft 1 in)
Draught6.06 m (19 ft 11 in)
Installed power
  • 16 ×
    Belleville boilers
  • 8,300–9,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion2 screws; 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement16 officers and 378 enlisted men
Armament
Armour

Amiral Charner was an

International Squadron off the island of Crete during 1897-1898 revolt there and the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 to protect French interests and citizens. Amiral Charner spent most of the first decade of the 20th century as a training ship or in reserve. The ship was recommissioned when World War I began in 1914 and escorted convoys for several months before she was assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean to blockade the Ottoman-controlled coast. During this time, she helped to rescue several thousand Armenians from Syria during the Armenian genocide of 1915. Amiral Charner was sunk in early 1916 by a German submarine
, with only a single survivor rescued.

Design and description

Brassey's Naval Annual
1902

The Amiral Charner-class ships were designed to be smaller and cheaper than the preceding armored cruiser design, the Dupuy de Lôme. Like the older ship, they were intended to fill the commerce-raiding strategy of the Jeune École.[1]

The ship measured 106.12 meters (348 ft 2 in)

deep load.[2]

The Amiral Charner class had two

forced draught. Amiral Charner had a designed speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), but during sea trials on 18 July 1895 the engines produced 8,956 metric horsepower (6,587 kW), but only gave a maximum speed of 18.4 knots (34.1 km/h; 21.2 mph). The ship carried up to 535 metric tons (527 long tons; 590 short tons) of coal and could steam for 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]

The ships of the Amiral Charner class had a main armament that consisted of two Canon de 194 mm Modèle 1887 guns that were mounted in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised six Canon de 138.6 mm Modèle 1887 guns, each in single gun turrets on each broadside. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried four 65 mm (2.6 in) guns, four 47-millimeter (1.9 in) and eight 37-millimeter (1.5 in) five-barreled revolving Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with four 450-millimeter (17.7 in) pivoting torpedo tubes; two mounted on each broadside above water.[4]

The side of the Amiral Charner class was generally protected by 92 millimeters (3.6 in) of steel armor, from 1.3 meters (4 ft 3 in) below the

mild steel had a thickness of 40 millimeters (1.6 in) along its centerline that increased to 50 millimeters (2.0 in) at its outer edges. Protecting the boiler rooms, engine rooms, and magazines below it was a thin splinter deck. A watertight internal cofferdam, filled with cellulose, ran the length of the ship from the protective deck[5] to a height of 1.2 meters (4 ft) above the waterline.[6] Below the protective deck the ship was divided by 13 watertight transverse bulkheads with five more above it. The ship's conning tower and turrets were protected by 92 millimeters of armor.[5]

Construction and career

Amiral Charner, named after Admiral

Mediterranean Squadron before she was briefly detached for service in the Eastern Mediterranean.[8]

On 6 January 1896, Amiral Charner became the flagship of the Higher Naval War College (École supérieure de guerre de la marine), commanding her

International Squadron deployed there during the Greco-Turkish War to protect Western interests and citizens and remained with the squadron until November 1898. Amiral Charner was reassigned to the college on 1 January 1899 together with the protected cruisers Friant and Davout. She was detached to the Northern Squadron (Escadre du Nord), based at Brest, for the first half of the year before returning to Toulon in late June. Three months later, the ship returned to Brest and was temporarily placed in reserve.[9]

In January 1900 she was ordered to

Bizerta, Tunisia.[12]

When World War I began in August 1914, she was recommissioned and assigned to escort convoys between Morocco and France together with Latouche-Tréville and Bruix. In November she was assigned to the 3rd Division of the 3rd Squadron based at Port Said, Egypt where she bombarded Ottoman positions on the Syrian coast several times. Amiral Charner

Kastelorizo on 28 December, along with the armored cruiser Jeanne d'Arc.[14]

Sailing from

Ruad Island, Syria to Port Said, Egypt, Amiral Charner was torpedoed by the German submarine U-21 on the morning of 8 February 1916. She sank in only two minutes with the loss of nearly the entire crew. Some 427 men were lost,[15] with only a single survivor rescued five days later.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ Feron, pp. 8–9
  2. ^ Feron, p. 15
  3. ^ Feron, pp. 15, 17
  4. ^ Feron, pp. 11, 15
  5. ^ a b Feron, pp. 12, 15
  6. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 304
  7. ^ Silverstone, p. 88
  8. ^ Feron, pp. 17–18
  9. ^ a b Feron, p. 18
  10. ^ Naval and Military Notes, pp. 75–76
  11. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36046. London. 23 January 1900. p. 12.
  12. ^ a b Feron, pp. 18–19
  13. ^ French Naval Manoeuvres
  14. ^ a b c Feron, p. 19
  15. ^ Sondhaus, p. 181

Bibliography

33°21′N 34°54′E / 33.350°N 34.900°E / 33.350; 34.900

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