The French cruiser ''Sully'' was one of five

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

s of the that were built for the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

() in the early 1900s. Fitted with a mixed armament of and guns, the ships were designed for service with the battle fleet. Completed in 1904, ''Sully'' joined her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s in the Northern Squadron (), although she was transferred to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

shortly afterwards. The ship struck a rock in

Hạ Long Bay Hạ Long Bay or Halong Bay ( vi, Vịnh Hạ Long, ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon". Administratively, the bay belongs to Hạ Lo ...

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

in 1905, only eight months after she was completed, and was a total loss.

Design and description

Gloire class cruiser diagrams Brasseys 1912

The ''Gloire''-class ships were designed as enlarged and improved versions of the preceding by

Emile Bertin Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

. The ships measured

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

of . They displaced . Their crew numbered 25 officers and 590 enlisted men. The sisters' propulsion machinery consisted of three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, using steam provided by

water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...

s, but the types of machinery differed between them. ''Sully'' had three-cylinder engines fed by 28

Belleville boiler There have been a vast number of designs of steam boiler, particularly towards the end of the 19th century when the technology was evolving rapidly. A great many of these took the names of their originators or primary manufacturers, rather than a m ...

s that were designed to produce a total of intended to give them a maximum speed of . During her

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s on 23 May 1903, the ship reached from . The cruisers carried enough coal to give them a range of at a speed of .

Armament and armor

The

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...

of the ''Gloire'' class consisted of two quick-firing (QF) 194 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns mounted in single-

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

. Their

secondary armament Secondary armament is a term used to refer to smaller, faster-firing weapons that were typically effective at a shorter range than the main (heavy) weapons on military systems, including battleship- and cruiser-type warships, tanks/armored ...

comprised eight QF 164.7 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns and six QF Canon de Modèle de 1893 guns. Half of the 164.7 mm guns were in two singe-gun

wing turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism ...

s on each

broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...

and all of the remaining guns were on single mounts in

casemates A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...

in the hull.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305 For defense against

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

s, they carried eighteen and four

Hotchkiss gun The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch (42 mm) light mountain gun; there were also a navy (47 mm) and a 3-inch (76&nbs ...

s, all of which were in single mounts. The sisters were also armed with five

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, of which two were submerged and three above water. Two of these were on each broadside and the fifth tube was in the stern. All of the above-water tubes were on pivot mounts. The ships varied in the number of

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s that they could carry and ''Sully'' was fitted with storage for 10. The ''Gloire'' class were the first French armored cruisers to have their waterline

armored belt Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal vehicle armor, armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from p ...

made from Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The belt ranged in thickness from . Because of manufacturing limitations, the thinner end plates were

nickel steel Nickel is a chemical element with Chemical symbol, symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive bu ...

. Behind the belt was a

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...

, backed by a longitudinal

watertight bulkhead Floodability is the susceptibility of a ship's construction to flooding. It also refers to the ability to intentionally flood certain areas of the hull for damage control purposes, or to increase stability, which is particularly important in comb ...

. The upper armored deck met the top of the belt and had a total thickness of while the lower armored deck curved down to meet the bottom of the belt and had a uniform thickness of . The main-gun turrets were protected by of Harvey armor, but their

barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...

s used plates of ordinary steel. The face and sides of the secondary turrets were thick and the plates protecting their barbettes were thick. The casemates protecting the 100-millimeter guns also had a thickness of 102 millimeters. The face and sides of the

conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...

were 174 millimeters thick.

Construction and career

''Sully'', named after the statesman

Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully Maximilien de Béthune, 1st Duke of Sully, Marquis of Rosny and Nogent, Count of Muret and Villebon, Viscount of Meaux (13 December 156022 December 1641) was a nobleman, soldier, statesman, and counselor of King Henry IV of France. Historians emp ...

,Silverstone, p. 112 was authorized in the 1898 Naval Program and was ordered from

Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée Forges or Les Forges may refer to: In Belgium *Forges, Belgium, a village and a former municipality that is now a part of Chimay, Wallonia In France *Forges, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department * Forges, Maine-et-Loire, in th ...

on 24 May 1899. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on that same day at their

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

La Seyne-sur-Mer La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...

, launched on 4 June 1901, and completed in June 1904.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 115, 117–118 The ship was sent to French Indochina for her first commission. On 7 February 1905 ''Sully'' struck a rock in

; her crew was not injured. Her guns and equipment were salvaged, but the ship broke in two and was abandoned as a total loss.French Armored Cruiser Sully, p. 326

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Later French Armored Cruisers, 1902-1911
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sully 1901 ships Ships built in France Gloire-class cruisers Maritime incidents in 1905 Ships sunk with no fatalities Shipwrecks in the South China Sea