French cruiser Condé
Condé in the roadstead of Brest on 10 July 1905
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Condé |
Namesake | Louis, Grand Condé |
Builder | Arsenal de Lorient |
Cost | 23,000,000f |
Laid down | 29 January 1901 |
Launched | 12 March 1902 |
Completed | 12 August 1904 |
Decommissioned | 1933 |
Fate | Sunk by aircraft, 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Gloire-class cruiser |
Displacement | 9,996 t (9,838 long tons) |
Length | 139.78 m (458 ft 7 in) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 20.2 m (66 ft 3 in) |
Draft | 7.55 m (24.8 ft) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 3 shafts, 3 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 615 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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The French cruiser Condé was one of five
Condé was transferred to the Atlantic Division (Division de l'Atlantique) in early 1914 and protected French interests and citizens during the
Design and description
The Gloire-class ships were designed by the naval architect
The sisters' propulsion machinery consisted of three
Armament and armor
The
The Gloire class were the first French armored cruisers to have their waterline
The main-gun turrets were protected by 161 millimeters (6.3 in) of Harvey armor, but their barbettes used 174-millimeter (6.9 in) plates of ordinary steel. The face and sides of the secondary turrets were 92 millimeters (3.6 in) thick and the plates protecting their barbettes were 102 millimeters (4 in) thick. The casemates protecting the 100-millimeter guns also had a thickness of 102 millimeters. The face and sides of the conning tower were 174 millimeters thick.[6]
Construction and career
Condé, named after
As more modern armored cruisers entered service, they were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Condé and Gloire joined their sister by January 1911 in the Cruiser Division of the 2nd Squadron, as the Northern Squadron had been redesignated.[13] In March the sisters visited New York City.[14] When the Danton-class battleships began entering service in August, the French Navy reorganized yet again with the 2nd Squadron renumbered as the 3rd and the Cruiser Division was renamed as the 3rd DL. After the Agadir Crisis of 1911, the French and British governments agreed in 1912 that the Royal Navy would defend the northern French coast and the French would concentrate their fleet in the Mediterranean and defend British interests there. The French forces left in the north were consolidated into the 2nd Light Squadron with the 3rd DL redesignated as the 1st Cruiser Squadron. Condé was transferred to the Atlantic Division, based in the French West Indies, in early 1914. During the United States occupation of Veracruz beginning in April 1914, the cruiser was frequently off the coast of Mexico to protect French citizens and interests during the Mexican Revolution.[15][16]
World War I
As tensions rose during the
By January 1916 Condé had been joined by Marseillaise in the West Indies and they were joined by their other two sisters in May when yet another reorganization recreated the 3rd DL which was tasked to search for German commerce raiders. Condé returned to France for a refit at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard in Bordeaux in July. With the reduced threat from commerce raiders in 1917, the numbers of armored cruisers were reduced and the Atlantic and Antilles Division (Division de l'Atlantique et des Antilles) was organized to control them. Condé joined the unit in late 1917 and the division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, beginning on 15 February 1918. The cruiser, however, departed the West Indies on 1 March. During her absence the division had been renamed the Atlantic Division when she rejoined the unit as a replacement for the torpedoed armored cruiser Dupetit-Thouars in August.[19]
Condé was still assigned to the division when the war ended on 11 November, but she had returned to France by 28 May 1919 when the ship transported 176 mutineers from French colonial infantry units from Brest to
Notes
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 123
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 123, 131
- ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 125–126
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 127–128
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 128–130
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 94
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 115, 117–118
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36717. London. 17 March 1902. p. 10.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 131, 133, 213
- ^ Evans, Mark L. (12 October 1916). "Colorado II (Armored Cruiser No. 7) 1905–1930". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 133, 210–211
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 133, 211
- ^ "French Cruisers Come". New York Sun. 29 March 1911. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 133, 211, 214–215, 219
- ^ "HMS Berwick, Armoured Cruiser - British Warships of World War 1". www.naval-history.net. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 219, 226–227
- ^ Corbett, p. 254
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 242, 245, 248, 250
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 250, 257
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 257
References
- Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- ISBN 1-870423-74-7.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.