French cruiser Dupleix (1900)

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For other ships with the same name, see French ship Dupleix.

Sister ship Kléber at anchor at the Jamestown Exposition, June 1907
History
France
NameDupleix
NamesakeJoseph François Dupleix
Ordered18 December 1897
Builder
Arsenal de Rochefort
CostFF16,308,850
Laid down18 January 1899
Launched28 April 1900
Commissioned15 September 1903
Decommissioned1 May 1919
Stricken27 September 1919
FateSold for scrap, 1922
General characteristics
Class and typeDupleix-class armored cruiser
Displacement7,700 t (7,578 long tons)
Length132.1 m (433 ft 5 in) (
o/a
)
Beam17.8 m (58 ft 5 in)
Draft7.46 m (24 ft 6 in)
Installed power
  • 24
    Belleville boilers
  • 17,100 
    kW
    )
Propulsion3 shafts; 3 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed20.9 knots (38.7 km/h; 24.1 mph)
Range6,450 nmi (11,950 km; 7,420 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 569
  • 607 as flagship
Armament
Armor

The French cruiser Dupleix was the lead ship of her class of three armored cruisers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. Designed for overseas service and armed with eight 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) guns, the ships were smaller and less powerfully armed than their predecessors. Completed in 1903, Dupleix was initially assigned to the Atlantic Division (Division de l'Atlantique) as its flagship. The ship spent 1906 to 1909 in reserve before she was sent to the Far East in 1910, again serving as a flagship.

When

decommissioned in 1919 and was sold for scrap
in 1922.

Design and description

The Dupleix-class ships were much smaller and more lightly armed than the preceding

draft of 7.46 meters (24 ft 6 in). The cruisers displaced 7,700 metric tons (7,578 long tons) as designed. They normally had a crew of 19 officers and 550 enlisted men, but accommodated 24 officers and 583 enlisted men when serving as a flagship.[2]

The

kW) that was intended to give them a maximum speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). Despite exceeding her horsepower rating, Dupleix failed to reach her designed speed during her sea trials on 13 Sep 1902, the ship only made 20.9 knots (38.7 km/h; 24.1 mph) from 17,870 metric horsepower (13,140 kW). The sisters carried up to 1,200 metric tons (1,200 long tons; 1,300 short tons) of coal and could steam for 6,450 nautical miles (11,950 km; 7,420 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]

Armament and protection

The ships of the Dupleix class had a

amidships.[4] The cruisers' secondary armament consisted of four QF Canon de 100 mm (3.9 in) Modèle de 1893 guns on single mounts in unprotected casemates in the hull. For defense against torpedo boats, they carried ten 47-millimeter (1.9 in) and four 37-millimeter (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns, all of which were on single mounts.[5] The ship were also equipped with two above-water 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside.[1]

The

nickel steel armor belt of the Dupleix-class cruisers covered the entire waterline length of the ship except for 18.9 meters (62 ft)[4] of the stern. The belt armor was 102 millimeters (4 in) thick, although it reduced to 84 millimeters (3.3 in) in front of the forward turret. The curved protective deck had a total thickness of 42 millimeters (1.7 in) on the flat and 70 millimeters (2.8 in) on the upper part of the curved portion where it met the bottom edge of the belt armor. The face and sides of the gun turrets were protected by 110-millimeter (4.3 in) Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The armor protection of the gun barbettes was 120 millimeters (4.7 in) thick. The sides of the elliptical conning tower were 100 to 120 millimeters thick.[6]

Construction and career

Dupleix, named after

launched on 28 April 1900, and began her formal sea trials on 15 March 1903. During her preliminary trials in 1902 there was a boiler accident on 22 August in which seven stokers were badly burnt. One of the ship's high-pressure engine cylinders cracked during a 24-hour trial on 30 September; repairs and further testing delayed the ship's trials by eight months. Dupleix was finally commissioned on 15 September 1903. She cost 16,308,850 francs.[8]

Upon completion the ship became flagship of the Atlantic Division, visiting the

Saigon, French Indochina, until August 1914. Her role as the division flagship was assumed by the armored cruiser Montcalm upon that ship's arrival in Saigon in 1913.[9]

World War I

As tensions rose during the

China Squadron in accordance with pre-war plans. The following day she joined the British pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Triumph as she steamed north to begin the blockade of the German-leased port of Qingdao. She developed engine problems which prevented her from joining the search for the German light cruiser SMS Emden once the Imperial Japanese Navy assumed responsibility for the blockade on 9 September. Later that month, Dupleix was transferred to Penang in the British Straits Settlements to reinforce the French destroyers patrolling the Strait of Malacca and to have her engines repaired. By late September, the cruiser began escorting convoys through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, most notably the Wessex Territorials from Egypt to India in late October.[10]

Dupleix was transferred to the newly formed Dardanelles Squadron (Escadre des Dardanelles) in May 1915, which was tasked to blockade the Aegean coast of Turkey. On the 26th, the cruiser was attacked by Ottoman coastal artillery at Bodrum while inspecting shipping, losing 27 men killed and 11 wounded. The successes of German merchant raiders like Möwe in 1916 caused the Allies to transfer cruisers to the Atlantic to protect their shipping. Dupleix was assigned to a newly-formed 6th Light Division (6e Division légère (DL)), which consisted of all three sisters, in July 1916 and was based in Dakar, French West Africa.[11]

To release manpower for higher-priority

Navy List. In 1920 Dupleix was towed to Landévennec and she was sold for scrap in 1922.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Silverstone, p. 79
  2. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 82
  3. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 82, 94
  4. ^ a b Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305
  5. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 82, 89–90
  6. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 91–92
  7. ^ Silverstone, p. 96
  8. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 81, 93–94, 213
  9. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 95
  10. ^ Corbett, I, pp. 143, 149, 282, 290, 302, 334, 359; Jordan & Caresse, p. 225
  11. ^ Corbett, III, pp. 36, 172–174; Jordan & Caresse, pp. 236, 242
  12. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 245, 247, 252, 256

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 0-89839-256-X
    .
  • Corbett, Julian (1997) [1940]. Naval Operations. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol. III (2nd ed.). London; Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum in association with the Battery Press.
    ISBN 1-870423-50-X
    .
  • 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
    .
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