Gloire-class cruiser

The ''Gloire'' class consisted of five armored cruisers built for the French Navy () during the first decade of the 20th century. Fitted with a mixed armament of and guns, the ships were designed for service with the fleet. After their completion in 1903–1904, the five sister ships were initially assigned to the Northern Squadron (), often serving as flagships. was transferred to the Far Eastern Squadron () shortly afterwards and was wrecked when she struck an uncharted rock in February 1905. and were transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron () in 1905–1906. The surviving sisters were generally divided between the Northern and Mediterranean Squadrons until a reorganization in 1910 caused all but to be concentrated in the Mediterranean. The following year another reorganization reduced ''Amiral Aube'' to reserve and her sisters were transferred to the 2nd Light Squadron (), as the Northern Squadron had been renamed. became a training ship in 1913 and ''Amiral Aube'' was reactivated to replace her. ''Condé'' was transferred to the French West Indies in early 1914 where she could monitor events during the Mexican Revolution.

When World War I began in August 1914, the three ships in French waters were assigned to defend Allied shipping in the English Channel and enforce the blockade of Germany while ''Condé'' was tasked to hunt down German commerce raiders in the Western Atlantic. Once the defenses of the Channel were completed in 1915, the sisters spent most of the rest of the war patrolling the Atlantic or on convoy escort duties based in either France or the West Indies. ''Amiral Aube'' was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean in late 1915 where she patrolled off the coast of Ottoman-controlled territory, but returned to France in early 1916. The ship was sent to Murmansk in early 1918 to support Allied forces when they intervened in the Russian Civil War. Returning home in October, she joined her sisters in the Atlantic Division (), based in the West Indies, in early 1919.

''Marseillaise'' was assigned to the Baltic Division () on after the war's end in November 1918 and remained there until late 1919. ''Condé'' supported Allied forces in North Russia in mid-1919 and covered the evacuation of Allied troops later that year. The ''Gloire''-class ships began to be reduced to reserve in 1920; ''Amiral Aube'' and ''Gloire'' were stricken from the naval register in 1922 and subsequently sold for scrap. ''Marseillaise'' served as a training ship in 1925–1929 and was scrapped in 1933. ''Condé'' was converted into a barracks ship in 1925 and was seized by the Germans when they invaded France in 1940. They used her as a submarine depot ship before converting her into a target ship; she was sunk by Allied aircraft in 1944.

Background

By mid-1897 the three factions of the navy, the (Young School) that wanted fast, lightly armed ships for commerce raiding, the traditionalists that wanted cruisers to defend the colonies and the modernists who desired armored cruisers and small scout cruisers to operate with the fleet had come to a consensus that armored cruisers could fulfill all these roles. Five cruisers intended to work with the fleet had been authorized in the 1896 construction program and only three, the , would be ordered in 1897. Later that year Navy Minister () Vice Admiral () Armand Besnard ordered Louis-Émile Bertin, the Director of Naval Construction (), to begin design work on an enlarged successor to the ''Gueydon''s with an extra of displacement.

The 1896 construction program was amended in 1898 to include six more armored cruisers, of which three were intended to be laid down under the 1898 budget. Édouard Lockroy, the new Naval Minister, approved the new design on 17 September and ordered the first two ships from naval dockyards that same day; the remaining three ships were ordered in 1899.

Design and description

Most of the additional weight allotted to the ''Gloire''-class ships was invested in increasing the height of the waterline armored belt and adding three more torpedo tubes. The ships measured overall, with a beam of and a draft of . They displaced . Their crew numbered 25 officers and 590 enlisted men.

The ships had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were rated at a total of , using steam provided by 28 Belleville water-tube boilers, except for ''Condé'' and ''Gloire'', which had an equal number of Niclausse boilers. They had a designed speed of , demonstrating speeds of from during their sea trials. The ''Gloire''s carried up to of coal and could steam for at a speed of .

Armament

The main battery of the ''Gloire'' class consisted of two quick-firing (QF) Modèle 1893–1896 guns mounted in single- gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The guns fired shells at muzzle velocities ranging from . This gave them a range of about at the turrets' maximum elevation of +15 degrees. Each gun was provided with 100 rounds which it could fire at a rate of two rounds per minute.

Their secondary armament comprised eight QF Modèle 1893–1896 guns and six QF Canon de Modèle de 1893 guns. Half of the 164.7 mm guns were in two single-gun wing turrets on each broadside and all of the remaining guns were on single mounts in casemates in the hull.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305 Their shells were fired at muzzle velocities of at a rate of three rounds per minute. At their maximum elevation of +15 degrees, the guns had a range of . The sisters carried 200 rounds for each gun. The shells of the 100 mm guns had muzzle velocities ranging from . Each gun was provided with 250 rounds, of which a dozen were stowed in the casemates, which it could fire at a rate of six rounds per minute.

For defense against torpedo boats, the ''Gloire''-class ships were fitted with eighteen and four Hotchkiss guns, all of which were in single mounts. The sisters were also armed with five torpedo tubes. One pair was submerged and the other was above water, both firing on the broadside, and the last tube was above water in the stern. All of the above-water tubes were on pivot mounts. The ships carried sixteen torpedoes for them. They could also carry between 10 and 14 naval mines.

Armor

The ''Gloire'' class were the first French armored cruisers to have their waterline armored belt made from Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The belt was arrayed in two strakes, the lower of which had a maximum thickness of amidships and thinned to towards the bow and towards the stern. The upper strake of armor was thick amidships and reduced to 80 millimeters at the bow and at the stern. Because of manufacturing limitations, the end plates of both strakes were nickel steel. Behind the belt was a highly subdivided watertight internal cofferdam, backed by a longitudinal watertight bulkhead.

The main-gun turrets were protected by of Harvey armor, but their barbettes 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 164.7-millimeter guns also had a thickness of 102 millimeters. The face and sides of the conning tower were 174 millimeters thick. The forward transverse bulkhead was thick while the after transverse bulkhead ranged in thickness between . The lower armored deck consisted of mild steel plates thick, both on the flat and where it curved downwards to meet the bottom of the belt. The upper armored deck was at the level of the top of the belt and was made from of hardened steel.

Ships

Service

All five of the sisters were initially assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Northern Squadron as they commissioned and ''Gloire'' became the squadron's flagship. ''Sully'', however, was soon transferred to the Far East where she was wrecked on an uncharted rock in early 1905. ''Marseillaise'' and ''Condé'' were transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron's Light Squadron () in 1905 and 1906, respectively while ''Gloire'' and ''Amiral Aube'' remained with the Northern Squadron for the rest of the decade. ''Gloire'' joined ''Marseillaise'' and ''Condé'' in the 1st Squadron () in 1910 as the Mediterranean Squadron had been redesignated in 1909. At the same time the Northern Squadron had become the 2nd Squadron.

The entry into service of more modern cruisers saw the sisters transferred back to the 2nd Squadron in 1911. Later that year ''Amiral Aube'' was placed in reserve. After the Agadir Crisis of 1911, the French and British governments agreed in 1912 that the Royal Navy would defend the northern French coast and the French would concentrate their fleet in the Mediterranean and defend British interests there. The French forces left in the north were consolidated into the 2nd Light Squadron with ''Gloire'', ''Condé'' and ''Marseillaise'' assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron. In late 1913, ''Gloire'' became a training ship and ''Amiral Aube'' was reactivated to replace her. Early the following year, ''Condé'' was transferred to the Atlantic Division in the French West Indies where she often cruised off the coast of Mexico to protect French citizens and interests during the Mexican Revolution.

World War I

When World War I began in August 1914, ''Condé'' was tasked to search for German commerce raiders and ''Gloire'' joined her sisters providing distant cover for the ships enforcing the blockade at the western entrance to the Channel. After the eastern entrance to the Channel was sealed off with anti-submarine nets and minefields in 1915, the armored cruisers were no longer required and ''Amiral Aube'' was transferred to the Mediterranean where she patrolled off the Egyptian and Levantine coasts until early 1916. ''Marseillaise'' joined ''Condé'' in the West Indies before the end of 1915. The successes of German merchant raiders like in 1916 caused the Allies to transfer cruisers to the Atlantic to protect their shipping and formed the 3rd Light Division ( (DL)) from the four surviving sisters in mid-1916 with ''Gloire'' as the flagship. ''Condé'' preceded her sisters home in July as she badly needed a refit. The 3rd DL was relieved by the 4th DL two months later and returned to France.

New cruises by ''Möwe'' and other commerce raiders at the beginning of 1917 caused ''Amiral Aube'', ''Gloire'' and ''Marseillaise'' to return to the West Indies. The 3rd Light Division was disbanded in May 1917 and the remaining cruisers in the West Indies were assigned to the Atlantic and Antilles Division () on 1 June. ''Condé'' replaced the armored cruiser in November and ''Gloire'' became the flagship of the division. While visiting Dakar, French West Africa, in September, ''Marseillaise'' became infested with malaria-laden mosquitoes that caused 70 percent of her crew to catch the disease. The division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, beginning on 15 February 1918. After the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Germans on 3 March, ''Amiral Aube'' was deployed to Murmansk in March to support Allied forces when they intervened in the Russian Civil War and ''Condé'' returned home that same month. During her absence the division was renamed the Atlantic Division in June. ''Condé'' was recalled in August after her replacement, the armored cruiser , was torpedoed and sunk. That month ''Amiral Aube'' supported the Allied occupation of Arkhangelsk before departing the Arctic in October.

Postwar activities

''Gloire'', ''Marseillaise'' and ''Condé'' were still assigned to the Atlantic Division when the war ended on 11 November. ''Gloire'' remained with the division until mid-1920 and was subsequently reduced to reserve after returning home. ''Marseillaise'' was assigned to the Baltic Division () on 18 December 1918 and remained there until she was relieved by the armored cruiser in November 1919. ''Amiral Aube'' was reassigned to the division in early 1919. ''Condé'' had returned to France by 28 May 1919 when the ship transported 176 mutineers from French colonial infantry units from Brest to Casablanca, French Morocco. She relieved ''Gueydon'' in the Arctic on 25 June and covered the withdrawal of French troops from Arkhangelsk and the subsequent evacuation of Murmansk by Allied forces on 12 October. ''Marseillaise'' and ''Condé'' had rejoined the Atlantic Division by March 1920. By this date ''Amiral Aube'' and ''Condé'' had been placed in reserve. Both ''Amiral Aube'' and ''Gloire'' were stricken on 7 July 1922 and were subsequently sold for scrap.

Their sisters ''Marseillaise'' and ''Condé'' had longer careers, albeit in subsidiary roles. The former ship served as a gunnery training ship from 1925 until she was stricken in 1929. ''Marseillaise'' was renamed ''Marseillaise II'' on 15 February 1932 and scrapped the following year. ''Condé'' became a barracks ship for the naval infantry () at Lorient in 1922. In 1928 the ship hosted the Naval Infantry School (); she was stricken from the naval register on 15 February 1933, but continued in use. ''Condé'' was captured by the Germans in June 1940 who used her as a submarine depot ship. She was sunk by Allied aircraft in 1944 in Bordeaux; her wreck was salvaged ten years later and broken up for scrap.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 250, 257; Silverstone, pp. 94, 105

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloire Class Cruiser

Cruiser classes
Ship classes of the French Navy