French cruiser Amiral Cécille

In 1878, the French Navy embarked on a program of cruiser construction authorized by the Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) for a strategy aimed at attacking British merchant shipping in the event of war. The program called for ships of around 3,000 long tons (3,048 t) with a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). The first four vessels of the program were wood-hulled unprotected cruisers. A fifth vessel, Sfax, was originally intended along the same lines, but was radically re-designed to become the first protected cruiser of the French fleet. Sfax provided the basis for a pair of similar follow-on ships, Tage and Amiral Cécille, both of which were ordered in 1885. Amiral Cécille was a scaled-down version of Tage, though both vessels were larger than Sfax; all were intended to serve as long-range commerce raiders.[1][2]

Characteristics

Profile drawing of Amiral Cécille as depicted in The Naval Annual in 1887; note it mistakenly omits the amidships sponson for the main battery, which was located abreast the rear funnel[3]

The ship was 111.5 m (365 ft 10 in) long between perpendiculars and 115.5 m (378 ft 11 in) long overall. She had a beam of 15 m (49 ft 3 in) and a draft of 6.81 m (22 ft 4 in). She displaced 5,893 long tons (5,988 t). Her hull featured a pronounced ram bow and a short forecastle. As was typical for French warships of the period, she had a pronounced tumblehome shape and an overhanging stern. Her superstructure was minimal, consisting primarily of a small conning tower forward. Her crew consisted of 517 officers and enlisted men.[4][5]

The propulsion system for Amiral Cécille consisted of four vertical compound steam engines that were paired to drive two 4-bladed, bronze screw propellers. Steam was provided by twelve coal-fired fire-tube boilers that were ducted into three funnels located amidships. The power plant was rated to produce 10,200 indicated horsepower (7,600 kW) for a top speed of 19.4 knots (35.9 km/h; 22.3 mph). Coal storage amounted to 925 long tons (940 t). To supplement the steam engines on long voyages, she was originally fitted with a barque sailing rig without royals, with three masts.[4][5] Her cruising radius using only her engines was 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) at a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[6]

Amiral Cécille was armed with a main battery of eight 164 mm (6.5 in) 30-caliber (cal.) guns carried in individual pivot mounts. Six of the guns were mounted in sponsons on the upper deck, three on each broadside. One gun was placed in the bow and the other was at the stern as chase guns. These weapons were supported by a secondary battery of ten 138 mm (5.4 in) 30 cal. guns that were carried in a main deck battery amidships, five guns per broadside with individual gun ports. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried six 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and fourteen 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon, all in individual mounts. She also carried four 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline.[1] One was in the bow, one on each broadside, and one in the stern.[5]

The ship was protected by an armor deck that was 56 mm (2.2 in) on the flat portion that covered her propulsion machinery spaces and magazines. Toward the sides of the ship, the deck sloped down and increased in thickness to 102 mm (4 in); the sloped sides terminated at the hull 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) below the waterline. The main deck battery had transverse bulkheads that were 79 mm (3.1 in) on either end. Her conning tower had 89 mm (3.5 in) sides.[4]

Amiral Cécille in Villefranche-sur-Mer in late 1890 or 1891

The keel for Amiral Cécille was laid down at the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in La Seyne-sur-Mer in August 1886 and her completed hull was launched on 3 May 1888. Named for Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille, who saw service in East Asia in the 1840s, the ship was completed in September 1890.[1][7][8] The ship participated in the 1891 fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron as part of the cruiser division, along with Tage, the protected cruiser Lalande, and the torpedo cruiser Vautour. The maneuvers began on 22 June and lasted until 11 July, during which Amiral Cécille operated as part of a hostile fleet attempting to attack the French Mediterranean coast. The maneuvers highlighted the shortage of cruisers sufficiently fast to scout for the main fleet; only Amiral Cécille and Tage were deemed suitable for the task in the evaluation of the exercises.[9]

By 1893, Amiral Cécille had been joined in the Mediterranean Squadron's reconnaissance force by the new armored cruiser Dupuy de Lôme and the protected cruiser Jean Bart.[10] The following year, she was out of service for a major overhaul of her boilers in Toulon.[11] The work was completed in 1895,[12] allowing her to take part in that year's maneuvers as part of Fleet C, along with four ironclads, three other cruisers, and several smaller torpedo craft. The exercises lasted from 1 to 27 July, and on the 15th, Amiral Cécille's propulsion system broke down and she had to return to Toulon for repairs.[13] By 1896, Amiral Cécille had been moved to the Reserve Squadron as part of its cruiser division, along with Sfax, Lalande, and the unprotected cruiser Milan and the torpedo gunboat Léger. The maneuvers for that year took place from 6 to 30 July and the Reserve Squadron served as the simulated enemy.[14]

In 1899, Amiral Cécille was sent to replace the cruiser Dubourdieu on the Naval Division of the Atlantic Ocean, where she joined Sfax.[15] In late January 1900 she left Fort-de-France, Martinique, for the west coast of Africa.[16] Later that year, the Atlantic Station was reinforced by the protected cruisers Suchet, D'Assas, and Troude, though Sfax was ordered to return home.[17] The flotilla assigned to the Atlantic was reduced to Amiral Cécille, Suchet, and the cruiser D'Estrées in 1901.[18] The ship was recalled home in 1902,[19] and Amiral Cécille saw no further active service, being assigned to the Special Reserve in 1906 and converted into a storage hulk the next year to support the torpedo school in Toulon.[6] She ultimately broken up in 1919.[1]

• Brassey, Thomas A. (1893). "Chapter IV: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 66–73. OCLC 496786828.
• Brassey, Thomas A. (1899). "Chapter III: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 70–80. OCLC 496786828.
• Brassey, Thomas A. (1902). "The Fleet on Foreign Stations". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 435–442. OCLC 496786828.
• Clowes, W. Laird (1894). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Toulon and the French Fleet in the Mediterranean". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 118–129. OCLC 496786828.
• Fisher, Edward C., ed. (1969). "157/67 French Protected Cruiser Cecille". Warship International. Toledo: International Naval Research Organization. VI (3): 237. ISSN 0043-0374.
• 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.
• Gleig, Charles (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter XII: French Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 195–207. OCLC 496786828.
• Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
• Leyland, John (1900). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter III: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 63–70. OCLC 496786828.
• Maw, W. H.; Dredge, J., eds. (24 July 1891). "The French Navy–No. XII. The "Cecille"". Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal. London: Offices for Advertisements and Publication. OCLC 1019345848.
• 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.
• "Ships: France". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. III (1): 135–136. 1891. ISSN 2376-8142.
• Thursfield, J. R. (1892). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Foreign Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 61–88. OCLC 496786828.
• Thursfield, J. R. (1897). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Naval Manoeuvres in 1896". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 140–188. OCLC 496786828.
• Weyl, E. (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter IV: The French Navy". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 61–72. OCLC 496786828.