French cruiser Destrées

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File:Destree-Bougault.jpg
Career (France)
Name: Destrées
Namesake: Victor-Marie d'Estrées
Laid down: 3 May 1897
Launched: 27 October 1897
Completed: 1899
In service: 1899
Out of service: 27 October 1922
Fate: Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type: Destrées-class cruiser
Displacement: 2,500 tonnes (2,461 long tons)
Length: 95 m (311 ft 8 in)
Beam: 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draught: 5.4 m (17 ft 9 in)
Installed power: 8,500 shp (6,338 kW)
Propulsion: 8 boilers
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement: 250
Armament: • 4 × 164 mm (6.5 in) guns
• 2 × 140 mm (5.5 in) guns
• 4 × 100 mm (4 in) guns
• 4 × torpedo tubes

The Destrées was a protected cruiser of the French Navy, named in honour of Victor-Marie d'Estrées, and lead ship of her class.

After her trials in 1900, Destrées was sent to Brest, where she was used for training.

At the outbreak of the First World War, she was appointed to the 2nd light cruiser squadron in the Channel, before being sent to the Eastern Mediterranean in 1915.

On 30 April, she reached Port Said and was tasked with the defence of the Suez Canal. In September, she took part in rescue operations to save people from the Armenian Genocide.

After the War, she was sent to the Far East.

Struck in 1923, she was used as a support ship in Toulon before being sold for scrap.

References

  • Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, Tome II, 1870-2006, LV Jean-Michel Roche, Imp. Rezotel-Maury Millau, 2005