Description

This post is also available in: Nederlands

The French armored cruiser Jules Ferry was one of the three armored cruisers of the Léon Gambetta class, built for the French navy during the first decade of the 20th century. It served during the First World War and was demolished in 1927. The Léon Gambetta class ships were designed as enlarged and more powerful versions of the armored cruisers of the Gloire class. Their crew consisted of 728 people on board, or 821 serving as a flagship. The ships have a length of 149.1 meters, a width of 22.5 meters and a draft of 8.2 meters. The Jules Ferry had a displacement of 12,379 tons. The ships had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each with a propeller shaft. The engines of Jules Ferry had a total capacity of 28,500 horsepower (21,300 kW), using steam supplied by 20 Guyot du Temple boilers. The ships had a speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km / h) The Jules Ferry had a coal bunker for 2098 tons and could therefore travel 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km / h) . The main armament of the Léon Gambetta class cruise ships consisted of four 194 mm (7.6 in) guns mounted in two gun turrets above and below the superstructure. Their intermediate armament consisted of 16 guns of 164 mm (6.5 inches). Twelve of them in double-barreled domes on the sides of the ship and the other four in casemates. For the defense against torpedoes, they carried twenty-four 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with two or four submerged 450 millimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes.

The waterline armored belt of the Léon Gambettas was 150 millimeters (5.9 in) thick midship and tapered to 70 millimeters (2.8 in) towards the bow and stern. The command tower had armored sides of 200 millimeters (7.9 in) thick. The gun turrets with main guns were protected by 200 millimeters (7.9 in) armor and the intermediate domes with steel from 130-160 millimeters (5.1-6.3 in). The casemates had an armor of 140 millimeters (5.5 inches) thick. The Jules Ferry was launched in August 1901 in Cherbourg and was launched in August 1903. It was completed in September 1905. After its commissioning, it became part of the 2nd light cruiser division in the Mediterranean. It was imposed in 1927 and the following year sold for scrap.