French cruiser Pothuau
Pothuau at anchor
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Class overview | |
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Operators | French Navy |
Preceded by | Amiral Charner class |
Succeeded by | Jeanne d'Arc |
History | |
Name | Pothuau |
Namesake | Louis Pothuau |
Ordered | 11 April 1893 |
Builder | Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, Granville |
Cost | 11,156,422 francs |
Laid down | 25 May 1893 |
Launched | 19 September 1895 |
Completed | 9 July 1897 |
Commissioned | 8 June 1897 |
Decommissioned | 12 June 1926 |
Stricken | 3 November 1927 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 25 September 1929 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Armoured cruiser |
Displacement | 5,460 tonnes (5,374 long tons) |
Length | 113.1 m (371 ft 1 in) |
Beam | 15.3 m (50 ft 2 in) |
Draught | 6.4 m (21 ft 0 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 Shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Range | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 455 (490 as flagship) |
Armament |
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Armour |
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The French cruiser Pothuau was an
Design and description
Pothuau measured 113.1 metres (371 ft 1 in)
The ship had two vertical
Pothuau's main armament consisted of two 40-calibre 194 mm (7.6 in) Modèle 1893 guns that were mounted in single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure.[2] The guns fired 75–90.3-kilogram (165–199 lb) shells at muzzle velocities ranging from 770 to 800 metres per second (2,500 to 2,600 ft/s).[4] The ship's secondary armament comprised ten 40-calibre 138 mm (5.4 in) Modèle 1893 guns, five on each broadside in casemates.[3] Their 30–35-kilogram (66–77 lb) shells were fired at muzzle velocities of 730 to 770 metres per second (2,400 to 2,500 ft/s).[5] For close-range anti-torpedo boat defense, she carried a dozen quick-firing (QF) 47-millimetre (1.9 in) and eight QF 37-millimetre (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns. Pothuau was also armed with four 450-millimetre (17.7 in) above-water rotating torpedo tubes.[6]
Pothuau was protected by a nickel-steel[7] armour belt that ranged in thickness from 80 millimetres (3.1 in) amidships to 52 millimetres (2.0 in) at the ship's ends. It extended from 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) below the waterline to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) above it. The curved protective deck was 55–105 millimetres (2.2–4.1 in) thick. The armour protecting the conning tower was 240 millimetres (9.4 in) thick.[3] Protecting the boiler rooms, engine rooms, and magazines below it was a thin splinter deck.[7] The turret armour was 180 millimetres (7.1 in) thick and the casemates were protected by armour plates 84 millimetres (3.3 in) thick. All told the ship's armour weighed 1,346 tonnes (1,325 long tons).[3]
Construction and career
Pothuau, named after French admiral and politician
Assigned to the Escadre du Nord (Northern Squadron), the ship represented France during
In August 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Pothuau was serving in the
Together with the British
Pothuau resumed her previous role of gunnery training ship after the war; during this time her main gun turrets were replaced by experimental
Notes
- ^ a b Wright & Becker, pp. 137, 145
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 76
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wright & Becker, p. 145
- ^ Friedman 2011, p. 218
- ^ Friedman 2011, p. 224
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 39, 41–42
- ^ a b Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 304
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 108
- ^ Naval Notes, July 1900
- ^ Naval Notes, September 1900
- ^ Naval Notes, May 1904
- ^ Foreign Naval Correspondence
- ^ Friedman 2013, p. 248
- ^ Monograph No. 8, p. 89
- ^ Turncoat Carriers, p. 292
- ^ Newbolt, p. 218
References
- Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
- Friedman, Norman (2013). Naval Firepower: Battleship Guns and Gunnery in the Dreadnought Era. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1848321854.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
- "Foreign Naval Correspondence". The Navy. IV (2): 14. April 1910. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- "Naval and Military Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLIV (269). Royal United Services Institute: 809. July 1900. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- "Naval and Military Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLIV (271). Royal United Services Institute: 1066. September 1900. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- "Naval Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVIII (315). Royal United Services Institute: 562. May 1904. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- Monograph No. 8: The Mediterranean 1914–1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. VIII. The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1923.
- Newbolt, Henry (1996). Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. IV (reprint of the 1928 ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-253-5.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Wright, C.C. & Becker, William A. (June 2014). "The French Armoured Cruiser Pothuau". ISSN 0043-0374.
- "Turncoat Carriers". Warship International. V (4). Naval Records Club: 285–294. 1968. ISSN 0043-0374.