French cruiser D'Assas

In response to a war scare with Italy in the late 1880s, the French Navy embarked on a major construction program in 1890 to counter the threat of the Italian fleet and that of Italy's ally Germany. The plan called for a total of seventy cruisers for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire. The D'Assas class, which also included Du Chayla and Cassard, was ordered as part of the program, and was very similar to the earlier Friant-class cruisers.[1][2]

D'Assas was 96.14 m (315 ft 5 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 13.67 m (44 ft 10 in) and a draft of 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in). She displaced 3,962 long tons (4,026 t). Her crew varied over the course of her career, and consisted of 370–392 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by twenty coal-burning Lagrafel d'Allest water-tube boilers that were ducted into three funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 10,000 indicated horsepower (7,500 kW) for a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[2] She had a cruising radius of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) and 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 20 knots.[3]

The ship was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns. They were placed in individual pivot mounts; one was on the forecastle, two were in sponsons abreast the forward conning tower, and the last was on the stern. These were supported by a secondary battery of four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, which were carried in pivot mounts in the fore and aft conning towers, one on each side per tower. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and five 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder guns. She was also armed with two 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick, along with 100 mm plating on the conning tower.[2]

D'Assas steaming at high speed

D'Assas was laid down at the Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard in Nantes in 1894. She was launched on 28 March 1896 and was completed in March 1898, the last member of her class to enter service.[2][4] She entered service in time to take part in the annual fleet maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron, France's primary battle fleet. The exercises that year lasted from 5 to 25 July.[5] The next year, she was formally assigned to the Squadron. At that time, the unit consisted of six pre-dreadnought battleships, three armored cruisers, seven other protected cruisers, and several smaller vessels.[6]

By January 1901, D'Assas had been assigned to the Northern Squadron, which was stationed in Brest, France.[7] The squadron at that time consisted of two pre-dreadnoughts, four ironclads, four coastal defense ships, two armored cruisers, and one other protected cruiser, along with several smaller vessels.[8] That year, the annual fleet maneuvers were conducted from 3 to 28 July. During the exercises, the Northern Squadron steamed south for joint maneuvers with the Mediterranean Squadron. The Northern Squadron ships formed part of the hostile force, and as it was entering the Mediterranean from the Atlantic, represented a German squadron attempting to meet its Italian allies. In August and September, the Northern Squadron conducted amphibious assault exercises. On 28 August, they escorted a group of troop ships from Brest to La Rochelle. The ships conducted a simulated bombardment of the port, neutralized the coastal defenses, and put some 6,000 men ashore.[9] D'Assas remained in the unit through 1902.[10]

By 1904, D'Assas had been assigned to the Division navale d'Extrême-Orient et du Pacifique occidental (Naval Division of the Far East and Western Pacific), which also included the armored cruisers Gueydon and Sully. D'Assas was tasked with escorting the four destroyers Pistolet, Javeline, Mousquet, and Fronde to the East Asia station, but repeated engine problems with D'Assas forced the destroyers to proceed independently. The cruiser, meanwhile, had to stop for repairs in Algiers in French Algeria and then again at Lubang Buaya in the Dutch East Indies. After arriving in Indochina, D'Assas joined the rest of the unit. On 8 February 1905, while steaming with D'Assas and Gueydon, Sully ran aground and could not free herself. D'Assas and Gueydon took off her crew and began salvage efforts, but the cruiser could not be pulled free, and eventually broke in two.[11][12]

Having returned to France by 1908, D'Assas was selected for conversion into a fast minelayer, along with her sister ship Cassard.[13] After several uneventful years, D'Assas was struck from the naval register in 1914 and sold for scrap; she was the only member of her class to have been discarded before the start of World War I.[4]

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