French cruiser Gloire (1900)
![]() Gloire at sea
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History | |
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Name | Gloire |
Namesake | Glory |
Builder | Arsenal de Lorient |
Laid down | 5 September 1899 |
Launched | 27 June 1900 |
Commissioned | 1904 |
Fate | Scrapped, 1922 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Template:Sclass- armored cruiser |
Displacement | 10,212 metric tons (10,051 long tons) |
Length | 139.8 m (458 ft 8 in) |
Beam | 20.2 m (66 ft 3 in) |
Draft | 7.7 m (25 ft) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 3 Shafts, 3 vertical triple-expansion steam engines |
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) |
Range | 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 612 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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The French cruiser Gloire was one of five Template:Sclass- armored cruisers built for the French Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She served in the English Channel and the Atlantic as a convoy escort during World War I.
Design and description
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Gloire_class_cruiser_diagrams_Brasseys_1912.jpg/300px-Gloire_class_cruiser_diagrams_Brasseys_1912.jpg)
The Gloire-class ships were designed as enlarged and improved versions of the Template:Sclass- armored cruisers by Emile Bertin. Her crew numbered 612 officers and enlisted men.[1] The ship measured 139.8 meters (458 ft 8 in) overall, with a beam of 20.2 meters (66 ft 3 in). Gloire had a draft of 7.7 meters (25 ft 3 in)[2] and displaced 10,212 metric tons (10,051 long tons).[3]
The ship had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were rated at a total of 20,500 indicated horsepower (15,300 kW), using steam provided by 28 Niclausse boilers. She had a designed speed of 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph).[2] She carried up to 1,590 long tons (1,620 t) of coal[1] and could steam for 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[2]
Gloire's main armament consisted of two 194 mm (7.6 in) guns mounted in single-gun turrets fore and aft. Her intermediate armament was eight 164 mm (6.5 in) guns. Four of these were in single gun turrets on the sides of the ship and the other four were in casemates. For anti-torpedo boat defense, she carried six 100 mm (3.9 in) guns in casemates and eighteen 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns. She was also armed with five 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes; two of these were submerged and the others were above water.[1]
The waterline armored belt of the Gloire-class ships was 170 millimeters (6.7 in) thick amidships and tapered to 106 millimeters (4.2 in) towards the bow and stern. Above the main belt was a thinner strake of armor, 127 millimeters (5 in) thick that also tapered to 106 mm at the ends of the ship.[4] The conning tower had armored sides 150 millimeters (5.9 in) thick. The main gun turrets were protected by 173 millimeters (6.8 in)[2] of armor and the intermediate turrets by 120 millimeters (4.7 in). The flat part of the lower armored deck was 45 millimeters (1.8 in), but increased to 64 millimeters (2.5 in) as it sloped down to the sides of the ship.[4]
Construction and career
Gloire, named after Glory, was laid down at the Arsenal de Lorient on 10 January 1900, launched on 14 July 1900, and completed on 28 April 1904.[5] When World War I began, the cruiser was assigned to the Training Squadron which reinforced the 2nd Light Squadron at Brest.[6] She patrolled the English Channel into 1915, before she was transferred to the Caribbean and Atlantic for convoy-escort duties. In May 1918, Gloire collided with the American liner SS City of Athens.[7] The ship was stricken in 1922[1] and scrapped in 1928.[7]
Notes
References
- "French Armored Cruiser Sully". Warship International. V (4). Toledo, Ohio: Naval Records Club: 324–26. 1968. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
- Moulin, Jean (2013). "France: La Marine Nationale". In O'Hara, Vincent (ed.). To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-61251-269-3.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.