home

fighting ships of the world

FRENCH NAVY (FRANCE)

CRUISERS

GUICHEN protected cruiser (1899)

Guichen 1899

Name No Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comp Fate
Guichen     A C de la Loire, St-Nazaire 10/1895 26.10.1897 1.1.1899 stricken 11.1921

 

Displacement normal, t

8151

Displacement full, t

 

Length, m

133.0 pp 139.0 oa

Breadth, m

17.0

Draught, m

7.49 max

No of shafts

3

Machinery

3 VTE, 36 Lagrafel d'Allest boilers

Power, h. p.

25000

Max speed, kts

23.5

Fuel, t

coal 1960 + oil

Endurance, nm(kts)

7500(12)

Armour, mm

Harvey; deck: 55 with 100mm slopes, casemates: 60 - 40, shields: 55, CT: 160

Armament

2 x 1 - 165/45 M1893, 6 x 1 - 139/45 M1893, 10 x 1 - 47/40 M1885, 5 x 1 - 37/20 M1885, 2 - 450 TT (aw, beam)

Complement

604

Project history: A cruiser of a different type, intended for commerce raiding, and very lightly armed for her size. There was a spar deck from just short of the straight stem to the stern, four funnels in widely spaced groups of two and two masts, though a third mast was added between the funnel groups for a time. Early plans show the 165mm guns in upper deck sponsons on either beam with four 139mm in upper deck casemates and the other two forward and aft on the spar deck, but photographs indicate that the 165mm were fore and aft on the spar deck and the 139mm guns in the sponsons. The boilers were fitted to burn oil with coal.

Ship protection: The guns had 55mm protection and there was 160mm Harvey nickel on the CT with a 150mm tube. The armour deck rose from 1.4m below the water to 0.8m above amidships, and was here 55mm on the flat and 100mm on the slopes reduced to 40mm at the ends. There was a splinter deck 1.2m above the armour deck crown with a cofferdam berween them at the sides.

Modernizations: None.

Naval service: In 1917 Guichen became be used a fast transport.

Guichen

© Ivan Gogin, 2014