D'Estrées-class cruiser
The D'Estrées class comprised two protected cruisers of the French Navy built in the late 1890s. The two ships were D'Estrées and Infernet, though a third was projected but was canceled before work began. They were ordered during a period of intense debate in the French fleet between officers who favored large armored cruisers and those who preferred smaller vessels more suited to long-distance cruising abroad. The D'Estrées-class cruisers were intended to operate in the French colonial empire. The ships were armed with a main battery of two 138 mm (5.4 in) guns supported by four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns and they had a top speed of 20 to 20.5 knots (37.0 to 38.0 km/h; 23.0 to 23.6 mph).
Infernet | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Destrées |
| Operators | French Navy |
| Preceded by | Châteaurenault |
| Succeeded by | Jurien de la Gravière |
| In commission | 1899–1922 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Retired | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 2,428 long tons (2,467 t) |
| Length | 95 m (311 ft 8 in) loa |
| Beam | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 5.39 m (17 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20 to 20.5 knots (37.0 to 38.0 km/h; 23.0 to 23.6 mph) |
| Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 235 |
| Armament |
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| Armor | Deck: 38 to 43 mm (1.5 to 1.7 in) |
D'Estrées and Infernet initially served in the Northern Squadron after entering service in the late 1890s, though they were quickly transferred elsewhere. D'Estrées went to the Atlantic station in 1902, while Infernet had been sent to French Madagascar by 1901. The latter ship then served a stint in the East Indies from 1903 to 1905, thereafter returning to France, where she was lost in an accidental grounding in 1910. D'Estrées was assigned to the 2nd Light Division at the start of World War I in August 1914 before being moved to the Syrian Division, where she took part in operations against Ottoman forces ashore. She patrolled the Red Sea and Indian Ocean from 1916 to the end of the war in 1918. D'Estrées was then sent to East Asia, where she served until being discarded in 1922.