French cruiser Gueydon
Sister ship Montcalm at anchor, 1902
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Gueydon |
Namesake | Louis Henri de Gueydon |
Builder | Arsenal de Toulon |
Launched | 20 September 1899 |
In service | 1 September 1903 |
Fate | Sunk by RAF aircraft, 13/14 August 1944 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | armoured cruiser |
Displacement | 9,548 tonnes (9,397 long tons) |
Length | 137.97 m (452 ft 8 in) |
Beam | 19.38 m (63 ft 7 in) |
Draught | 7.67 m (25 ft 2 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 3 Shafts, 3 vertical triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 8,500 nmi (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 566 |
Armament |
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Armour |
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The French cruiser Gueydon was the
Design and description
Designed by the
The Gueydon class had three
The Gueydons had a main armament that consisted of two 40-caliber 194 mm (7.6 in) guns that were mounted in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised eight 45-caliber quick-firing (QF) Canon de 164 mm (6.5 in) Modèle 1893 guns in casemates. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried four 45-caliber QF Canon de 100 mm (3.9 in) Modèle 1891 guns on the forecastle deck, as well as ten QF 47 mm (1.9 in) and four QF 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with two submerged 450-millimetre (17.7 in) torpedo tubes.[1][2]
The Harvey armor belt of the Gueydon-class cruisers covered most of the ships' hull. The lower strake of armor was generally 150 millimetres (5.9 in) thick, although it reduced to 91 millimetres (3.6 in) forward, 81 millimetres (3.2 in) aft. The curved lower protective deck ranged in thickness from 51 to 56 millimetres (2.0 to 2.2 in). The gun turrets were protected by 160–176-millimetre (6.3–6.9 in) armor and had roofs 23 millimetres (0.9 in) thick.[1][2]
Construction and career
Gueydon was named in honour of
In 1923, she was refitted in Brest harbour. In 1926, she was again modified to serve as a gunnery school; she entered this role the following year, replacing the armoured cruiser
In 1941, her hull was used by the Germans (with two old French sloops) to form the basis for a decoy-dummy of the Prinz Eugen.
The hulk of Gueydon was bombed by aircraft from the RAF's
Notes
References
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Couhat, Jean Labayle (1974). French Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0445-5.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
- Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.