French cruiser Dupuy de Lôme

Armoured cruiser Dupuy de Lôme, launched in 1887.
History
France
Namesake	Henri Dupuy de Lôme
Builder	Brest shipyard
Laid down	1887
Acquired	by Peru in 1912 as Commandant Elias Aguirre. Never delivered. by Belgium in 1920 as Perruvier. Transformed to cargo ship
Commissioned	1890
Renamed	Commandant Elias Aguirre in 1912. Back to Dupuy de Lôme in 1914 Perruvier in 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Armoured cruiser
Displacement	6 700 tonnes
Length	111 m (364 ft 2 in)
Beam	16 m (52 ft 6 in)
Draught	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Propulsion	13,000 horsepower (9,694 watt) steam engine, 13 cylindrical boilers
Speed	19.7 knots (36 km/h, 22.6 mph)
Complement	526 men
Armament	2 x 194mm (7.64-in) /40 calibres guns 6 x 1 - 164 mm Modèle 1893 guns 2 x 450mm (17.7-in) torpedo tubes
Armour	belt: 100 mm (3.9 in) deck: 20 mm (0.79 in) bridge: 125 mm (4.9 in) turrets: 100 mm (3.9 in)

Dupuy de Lôme was an armoured cruiser of the French Navy, launched in Brest in 1887, and commissioned in 1890. She is considered as the world's first armoured cruiser. She was named after the naval architect Dupuy de Lôme.

The hull design shows an extremely marked tumblehome which had the advantage of increasing arcs of fire for the ships gun batteries. it also may have made the hull more hydrodynamic and assisted in the vessels relatively high speed for the time. Her top-hamper was also reduced in comparison with other vessels of the period - which enabled better sighting and ranging of targets and subsequent gun laying.

She was capable of 23 kts, and designed to raid on enemy commerce ships during extended forays afloat, following the "Jeune École" doctrine.

She was stricken after 20 years in the Navy, and sold to Peru as Commandant Elias Aguirre. She was never delivered however, and was re-commisionned in 1914 under her original name.

• Dupuy de Lôme under way
  Dupuy de Lôme under way

See also

Media related to French armoured cruiser Dupuy de Lôme (1887) at Wikimedia Commons