1. Description

2. Ships

3. References

4. Bibliography

5. External links

The Léon Gambetta-class cruisers were a group of three armored cruisers built for the French Navy during the first decade of the 20th century.

Description

The Léon Gambetta-class ships were designed as enlarged and more powerful versions of the {{sclass-|Gloire|cruiser|0}} armored cruisers. Their crew numbered 728 officers and enlisted men, or 821 when serving as a flagship. The ships measured {{convert|149.1|m|ftin|sp=us}} overall, with a beam of {{convert|22.5|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|8.2|m|ftin|sp=us}}^[1] Designed to displace {{convert|12351|t|LT|sp=us}}, they actually displaced {{convert|11959|to|13108|t|LT|sp=us}}.^[2]

The ships had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were rated at a total of {{convert|27500|ihp|lk=in}}, using steam provided by 20 or 28 water-tube boilers. They had a designed speed of {{convert|22.5|kn|lk=in}}.^[2] They carried up to {{convert|2065|LT|t}} of coal and could steam for {{convert|12000|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.^[1]

The main armament of the Léon Gambetta-class cruisers consisted of four {{convert|194|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} guns mounted in twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Their intermediate armament was sixteen {{convert|164|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} guns. Twelve of these were in twin-gun turrets on the sides of the ship and the other four were in casemates. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried twenty-four {{convert|47|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with two^[2] or four submerged {{convert|450|mm|in|adj=on|1|sp=us}} torpedo tubes.^[1]

The waterline armored belt of the Léon Gambettas was {{convert|150|mm|in|1|sp=us}} thick amidships and tapered to {{convert|70|mm|in|1|sp=us}} towards the bow and stern. The conning tower had armored sides {{convert|200|mm|in|sp=us|1}} thick. The main-gun turrets were protected by {{convert|200|mm|in|1|sp=us}}^[1] of armor and the intermediate turrets by {{convert|130|-|160|mm|in|1|sp=us}}. The casemates had armor {{convert|140|mm|in|1|sp=us}} thick.^[2]

Ships

The ships were named after notable statesmen of the French Republic. The Minister of the Navy from 1902 to 1905, Camille Pelletan, chose these names for the armoured cruisers in order to honour left-wing statesmen, philosophers or historians, such as Waldeck-Rousseau, Jules Michelet, Ernest Renan, or Edgar Quinet, as the officers of the French Navy (so called "La Royale") were reputed to have rather right-wing Royalist sympathies. Under his authority, and for the same reason, six battleships were given names as République, Patrie, Démocratie, Justice, Liberté, or Vérité.

• {{Ship|French cruiser|Léon Gambetta||2}} was torpedoed and sunk in 1915.
• {{Ship|French cruiser|Jules Ferry||2}} served until 1927.
• {{Ship|French cruiser|Victor Hugo||2}} until 1928.

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|lastauthoramp=y}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Sondhaus|first=Lawrence|title=The Great War at Sea: A Naval History of the First World War|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-107-03690-1}}

External links

• {{Commons category-inline|Léon Gambetta class armoured cruisers}}

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