D'Iberville-class cruiser

The D'Iberville class was a group of torpedo cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The class comprised three ships: D'Iberville, Cassini, and Casabianca.

Cassini, c. 1901
Class overview
Name: D'Iberville class
Operators:  French Navy
Completed: 3
Retired: 3
General characteristics
Class and type: Torpedo cruiser
Displacement: 952 long tons (967 t)
Length: 80 m (262 ft 6 in) pp
Beam: 8.08 to 8.2 m (26 ft 6 in to 26 ft 11 in)
Draft: 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Range: 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 140–143
Armament:
Armor:

Design

In the early 1880s, the French Navy began building a series of torpedo cruisers to make use of the new, self-propelled Whitehead torpedo. The first classes of these vessels, the Condor and Wattignies classes, were relatively large vessels. Two further classes, the Bombe and Lévrier classes, were significantly smaller ships.[1] The three vessels of the D'Iberville class marked a return to larger vessels, with greatly increased speed compared to their predecessors.[2] The design for the first vessel was prepared by the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard as part of a design competition requested by Édouard Barbey, the Minister of the Marine.[3] All of these ships have been alternatively called torpedo cruisers, torpedo gunboats, or torpedo avisos.[1][4]

Characteristics
D'Iberville, date and location unknown

The ships of the D'Iberville class were 80 m (262 ft 6 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 8.08 to 8.2 m (26 ft 6 in to 26 ft 11 in) and a draft of 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in). D'Iberville displaced 952 long tons (967 t), while Cassini and Casabianca were slightly heavier, displacing 970 long tons (990 t). The ships had a raised forecastle and quarterdeck, and as was typical for French warships of the period, they featured a pronounced ram bow. They were fitted with a pair of pole masts. Their crew varied from 140 to 143 officers and enlisted men over the course of their careers. The ships rolled very badly in heavy seas.[5]

The first two ships' propulsion system consisted of a pair of quadruple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers, while Casabianca had two triple-expansion steam engines. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning water-tube boilers that were ducted into two funnels. Their machinery was rated to produce 5,000 indicated horsepower (3,700 kW) for a top speed of 21.5 to 22 knots (39.8 to 40.7 km/h; 24.7 to 25.3 mph). Coal storage amounted to 115 long tons (117 t),[5] which provided a cruising radius of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The ships were, at the time of their completion, the fastest torpedo cruisers in the world.[3]

The ships were armed with a main battery of one 100 mm (3.9 in) gun in a pivot mount forward. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, they carried three 9-pounder quick-firing guns and six or seven 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, all in individual mounts. The 9-pounders were placed further aft, one on each broadside and the third on the stern. D'Iberville was also armed with six 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, while Cassini and Casabianca only received three; all of the vessels carried them in their hulls above the waterline.[5]

Armor protection for D'Iberville consisted of a curved armor deck that was 20 mm (0.79 in) thick, increasing to 40 mm (1.6 in) on downward sloping sides that covered the propulsion machinery spaces. Cassini and Casabianca had a deck that was uniformly 20 mm thick, including the sloped sides. All three ships had 40 mm plating on the conning tower.[5]

Construction
Name Shipyard[5] Laid down[5] Launched[6] Completed[5]
D'Iberville Chantiers de la Loire, Saint-Nazaire August 1891 11 September 1892 1894
Cassini Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer November 1892 5 June 1894 1895
Casabianca Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde, Lormont January 1894 21 September 1895 1896

Service history
Casabianca, date and location unknown

Notes
  1. Ropp, p. 130.
  2. Weyl 1894, p. 26.
  3. Weyl 1895, p. 25.
  4. Gardiner, pp. 324–325.
  5. Gardiner, p. 325.
  6. Gardiner & Gray, p. 194.

References
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
  • Ropp, Theodore (1987). Roberts, Stephen S. (ed.). The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871–1904. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
  • Weyl, E. (1894). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 18–50. OCLC 496786828.
  • Weyl, E. (1895). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 15–48. OCLC 496786828.


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