French Cruiser Montcalm (1900)

''Montcalm'' was a armoured cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The ship saw service during World War I in the Pacific. Following the war, ''Montcalm'' was used as an accommodation ship. In 1934, the vessel was renamed ''Trémintin'' and was sunk during World War II by British aircraft.

Design and description

Designed by the naval architect Emile Bertin, the ''Gueydon''-class ships were intended to fill the commerce-raiding strategy of the Jeune École. They measured long overall with a beam of and had a draught of . ''Montcalm'' displaced . The ship had a crew of 566 officers and enlisted men.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305

The ''Gueydon'' class had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft. Steam for ''Montcalm''s engines was provided by 20 Normand Sigaudy boilers and they were rated at a total of that gave them a speed of . The ships carried up to of coal and could steam for at a speed of .Silverstone, p. 79

The ships of the ''Gueydon'' class had a main armament that consisted of two 40- caliber 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) guns in casemates. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried four 45-caliber QF guns on the forecastle deck, as well as ten QF and four QF Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with two submerged torpedo tubes.

The Harvey armor belt of the ''Gueydon''-class cruisers covered most of the ships' hull. The lower strake of armor was generally thick, although it reduced to forward, aft, and thinned to at its lower edge. The upper strake of armor had thicknesses of and between the main and upper decks. The curved lower protective deck ranged in thickness from 51 to 56 millimetres. In addition there was a light armor deck thick at the top of the lower armor strake. A watertight internal cofferdam, filled with cellulose, stretched between these two decks. The gun turrets were protected by armor and had roofs thick. The 100-millimetre guns were protected by gun shields and the sides of the conning tower were 160 millimetres thick.

Construction and career

Laid down by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée at their La Seyne-sur-Mer shipyard on 27 September 1898, she was launched on 27 March 1900 and was commissioned on 24 March 1902, before completing her trials, to ferry the President of the Republic, Émile Loubet, to Russia. Later that year she was commissioned for service in China.

After the outbreak of World War I, ''Montcalm'' supported in the Australian capture of Rabaul in September 1914.Details in the Australian Official History of the 1914-18 War, Volume Ten. There was some comment on the profile of the ship, bows and stern sections effectively identical, it being thought that this was an attempt to confuse enemy range-finders. She was decommissioned and hulked as an accommodation ship on 28 October 1926. The ship was renamed ''Trémintin'' on 26 September 1934. She was at Brest in 1940 and was there sunk by the Royal Air Force on 16 August 1944.Silverstone, p. 105

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Montcalm (1900)
Gueydon-class cruisers
1900 ships
Ships built in France
World War I cruisers of France
Naval ships of France captured by Germany during World War II
Ships sunk by British aircraft
Maritime incidents in August 1944