French cruiser Jurien de la Gravière
Jurien de la Gravière underway early in her career
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Class overview | |
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Operators | French Navy |
Preceded by | D'Estrées class |
Succeeded by | None |
History | |
France | |
Name | Jurien de la Gravière |
Builder | Lorient |
Laid down | 17 November 1897 |
Launched | 26 June 1899 |
Completed | 16 June 1903 |
Commissioned | 15 May 1901 |
Stricken | 27 July 1921 |
Fate | Broken up, 1922 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Protected cruiser |
Displacement | 6,167.55 t (6,070.14 long tons; 6,798.56 short tons) |
Length | 138.9 m (455 ft 9 in) loa |
Beam | 15.05 m (49 ft 5 in) |
Draft | 6.38 m (20 ft 11 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 22.88 knots (42.37 km/h; 26.33 mph) |
Range | 4,787.8 nmi (8,867.0 km; 5,509.7 mi) at 10.5 kn (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
Complement | 463 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Jurien de la Gravière was a
Completed in 1903, Jurien de la Gravière initially served in the Atlantic Naval Division. Over the following several years, she made a number of visits to the United States, including to commemorate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1903. During another visit in 1906, she collided with and sank a schooner. Jurien de la Gravière had been transferred to the Reserve Division of the Mediterranean Squadron by 1911, though she was reactivated in 1913 to serve with the main French fleet. She remained on active service into the start of World War I in August 1914, and after ensuring the safe passage of French Army units from North Africa to France, the fleet entered the Adriatic Sea to engage the Austro-Hungarian Navy. This resulted in the Battle of Antivari, where Jurien de la Gravière was detached to pursue the fleeing torpedo boat SMS Ulan, though she failed to catch her.
Jurien de la Gravière saw no further action during the conflict. The French fleet withdrew to
Design
In the mid-1880s, elements in the French naval command argued over future warship construction; the
Political conflicts over cruiser construction continued over the next three years, and the French
The Conseil des Travaux, which had become dominated by those who favored a cruiser fleet composed of armored cruisers, rejected Besnard's proposed cruiser. They cited the vessel's limited displacement, which would have made it difficult to build a strong enough hull, and its insufficient cruising radius for a vessel intended to operate overseas. They also felt the vessel was too small and weak to serve as the flagship of an overseas cruiser squadron. Besnard nevertheless ordered the first cruiser, which became Jurien de la Gravière, over their objections on 20 November 1896. The second vessel was redesigned as the armored cruiser Dupleix.[2][3] She proved to be the last protected cruiser to be built for the French Navy, as the naval command decided to build larger armored cruisers for all cruiser tasks, including colonial patrol duties.[4][5]
General characteristics and machinery
Jurien de la Gravière was 137 m (449 ft 6 in)
Her
The ship's propulsion system consisted of three vertical
Her machinery was rated to produce 17,400
Armament and armor
Jurien de la Gravière was armed with a
For defense against torpedo boats, she carried a secondary battery of ten 47 mm (1.9 in) 40-cal. M1885 Hotchkiss guns and six 37 mm (1.5 in) 20-cal. M1885 guns. All of these guns were carried in individual pivot mounts in various positions along the ship's upper deck and superstructure. In addition, she carried a pair of 65 mm (2.6 in) 16-cal. M1881 field guns that could be sent ashore with a landing party. She carried a pair of 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes; according to Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, and the historian Stephen Roberts, these were submerged in the hull.[4][8] But the contemporary Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers states that the tubes were mounted in the hull above the waterline.[7] The torpedoes were the M1892 variant, which carried a 75 kg (165 lb) warhead and had a range of 800 m (2,600 ft) at a speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).[11]
The ship had a curved armor deck that consisted of
Service history
Work began on Jurien de la Gravière with her
Upon entering service in 1903, Jurien de la Gravière was assigned to the Atlantic Naval Division, along with the armored cruiser Dupleix. When she joined the unit, she replaced the protected cruiser
Jurien de la Gravière remained in service with the Atlantic Naval Division until early 1907; she was placed in
In May 1913, Jurien de la Gravière was mobilized to join the active component of the Mediterranean Fleet, serving in the role of répétiteur (signal relay ship).
On 1 August 1914, Jurien de la Gravière departed from Toulon in company with the 2nd Submarine Flotilla, bound for Bizerte. By that time, Europe had already begun to spiral into World War I following the July Crisis that resulted in Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June. Boué de Lapeyrère ordered the fleet to mobilize the following day and steam to the North African coast to cover the transport of French units in French North Africa to mainland France. Boué de Lapeyrère received word of the start of hostilities with Germany in the early hours of 4 August.[24]
World War I
1914–1915
Faced with the prospect that the German Mediterranean Division—centered on Goeben—might attack the troopships carrying the French Army in North Africa to metropolitan France, the French fleet was tasked with providing heavy escort to the convoys. But instead of attacking the convoys, Goeben bombarded Bône and Philippeville and then fled east to the Ottoman Empire. Jurien de la Gravière was sent with the armored cruisers Bruix, Latouche-Tréville, and Amiral Charner to patrol the Strait of Sicily on 7 August to free British forces to pursue Goeben and the light cruiser SMS Breslau as they sailed eastward. After completing this mission, the Mediterranean Fleet then turned to confront the fleet of Germany's ally, the Austro-Hungarians, in the Adriatic Sea after France and the United Kingdom declared war on that country on 12 August.[25][26]
The French fleet was therefore sent to the southern Adriatic Sea to contain the Austro-Hungarian Navy. At that time, Jurien de la Gravière was attached to the Dreadnought Division, which at that time only included the new dreadnought battleships Jean Bart and Courbet.[27] On 15 August, the French fleet arrived off the Strait of Otranto, where it met the patrolling British cruisers HMS Defence and HMS Weymouth north of Othonoi. Boué de Lapeyrère then took the fleet into the Adriatic in an attempt to force a battle with the Austro-Hungarian fleet; the following morning, the British and French cruisers spotted vessels in the distance that, on closing with them, turned out to be the protected cruiser SMS Zenta and the torpedo boat SMS Ulan, which were trying to blockade the coast of Montenegro. In the ensuing Battle of Antivari, Boué de Lapeyrère initially ordered his battleships to fire warning shots, but this caused confusion among the fleet's gunners that allowed Ulan to escape. Jurien de la Gravière and several torpedo boats were detached to pursue Ulan, but they were unable to catch her. The slower Zenta attempted to evade the French battleships, but she quickly received several hits that disabled her engines and set her on fire. She sank shortly thereafter and the Anglo-French fleet withdrew.[28]
Jurien de la Gravière continued to operate with the main fleet after it enacted a blockade of the southern end of the Adriatic. On 18–19 September, the fleet made another incursion into the Adriatic, steaming as far north as the island of Lissa. The fleet continued these operations in October and November, including a sweep off the coast of Montenegro to cover a group of merchant vessels replenishing their coal there. Throughout this period, the battleships rotated through Malta or Toulon for periodic maintenance; Corfu became the primary naval base in the area.[29][30]
The patrols continued through late December, when an Austro-Hungarian
1916–1918
In October 1916, Jurien de la Gravière served as Boué de Lapeyrère's flagship during a bombardment operation on the southern
The French fleet, which had by then been relocated to a large anchorage at Corfu, remained largely immobilized due to shortages of coal, preventing training until late September 1918. During this period, the fleet's large ships had members of their crews transferred to destroyers and other anti-submarine patrol vessels. Coupled with the inaction of the fleet, these reductions seriously damaged the morale of those men who remained aboard the fleet's battleships and cruisers. In late October, members of the Central Powers began signing armistices with the British and French, signaling the end of the war.[34][35]
Postwar
After the war, Jurien de la Gravière served in the Syrian Division, along with two smaller vessels through early 1920. At that time, she served as the flagship of
Footnotes
- ^ Ropp, p. 284.
- ^ a b c d Roberts, p. 236.
- ^ Ropp, pp. 286–287.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Campbell, p. 313.
- ^ Fisher, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Roberts, pp. 236–237.
- ^ a b Ships, p. 326.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roberts, p. 237.
- ^ a b Brassey & Leyland 1904, p. 10.
- ^ Friedman, p. 221.
- ^ Friedman, p. 345.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 312–313.
- ^ Brassey & Leyland 1903, p. 26.
- ^ Garbett 1908, p. 85.
- ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 248.
- ^ Garbett 1903, pp. 944–945.
- ^ Fortier & Augustin, p. 4.
- ^ Garbett 1904, p. 309.
- ^ Brassey 1905, p. 42.
- ^ Annual List, p. 375.
- ^ Brassey 1911, p. 56.
- ^ Earle, pp. 1117–1118.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 241.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 252.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 252, 254–255.
- ^ Corbett, p. 68.
- ^ Corbett, p. 88.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 254–257.
- ^ a b c Smigielski, p. 194.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 257.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 257–260.
- ^ Halpern, p. 16.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 269.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 274–279.
- ^ Hamilton & Herwig, p. 181.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 289.
References
- OCLC 496786828.
- Brassey, Thomas A. (1911). "Chapter III: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 55–62. OCLC 496786828.
- Brassey, Thomas A. & Leyland, John (1903). "Chapter II: The Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 21–56. OCLC 496786828.
- Brassey, Thomas A. & Leyland, John (1904). "Chapter I: Progress of Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 1–25. OCLC 496786828.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- OCLC 174823980.
- Earle, Ralph, ed. (September 1912). "Professional Notes". ISSN 0041-798X.
- Fisher, Edward C., ed. (1969). "157/67 French Protected Cruiser Isly". Warship International. VI (3). Toledo: ISSN 0043-0374.
- Fortier, Alcée & Augustin, James M. (1904). Centennial Celebration of the Louisiana Transfer, December, 1903. Vol. III. New Orleans: Louisiana Historical Society. OCLC 1041786628.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Garbett, H., ed. (August 1903). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVII (306). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 941–946. OCLC 1077860366.
- Garbett, H., ed. (June 1904). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVIII (316). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 707–711. OCLC 1077860366.
- Garbett, H., ed. (January 1908). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVII (299). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 84–89. OCLC 1077860366.
- Halpern, Paul G. (2004). The Battle of the Otranto Straits. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34379-6.
- Hamilton, Robert & Herwig, Holger, eds. (2004). Decisions for War, 1914–1917. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83679-1.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
- Roberts, Stephen (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
- "Ships". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. XIV (1). Washington D.C.: R. Beresford: 282–368. February 1902.
- Smigielski, Adam (1985). "France". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 190–220. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- Thirty-Ninth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States for the Year Ending June 30, 1906. 1936/37-1939/41: Report series, no.[1], 4, 8, 11. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1907.