Armored cruisers of the Leon Gambetta type

At the end of the XIX century, one of the main advantages of France in the confrontation at sea with Britain was the French fleet of armored cruisers. Designed for ocean raiding, the French cruisers had powerful armor protection and good seaworthiness with lightweight weapons, which consisted mainly of quick-firing guns.

However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the situation changed. The main "land enemy" of France acquired a fleet of merchant and naval. Now they needed the destroyers of enemy raiders. The new German cruisers of the Prince Adalbert type excelled the Gluar type in artillery power and the new German cities were faster than the Duple . The new cruisers had to be stronger than the shell and faster than the small cruiser, for this they needed fast cruisers with enhanced weapons, so the design displacement of the new cruisers was increased to 12,600 tons ^[2] . New armored cruisers should be suitable for action, both alone and as part of a squadron, while they not only have to disrupt enemy trade, but also defend their own. That is, not weakly armed raiders were required, but ships with rather powerful weapons. For joint action, a requirement was introduced - it builds ships in series of three. At the same time, the total number of armored cruisers was planned to be increased to 24 ^[2] . At the same time, the competition with Britain was not canceled - according to its characteristics, cruisers should be comparable to 14,300 ton Drakes ^[3] .

Emil Bertin was commissioned to bring this to life. He strengthened his armament by moving from single-armed towers to double-armed. The towers themselves were of an improved type compared to those installed on the Kleber ^[3] .

Already during the construction of these ships, on April 8, 1904, the Anglo-French agreement was signed, putting an end to half a century of rivalry ^[3] .

“Leon Gambetta” - Laid down in January 1901, launched on November 26, 1901, went into operation in July 1905 . Named after Leon Gambetta .

Jules Ferry - Laid down in August 1901, launched on August 23, 1903, entered service in October 1905 .

“Victor Hugo” - Laid down in March 1903, launched on March 30, 1904, went into operation in 1907 .

The design displacement of 12,351 tons, their actual normal displacement ranged from 11,959 to 13,108 tons. Their length was 146.5 meters, width - 21.4 meters, and draft - 8.05-8.41 meters. In size, they exceeded the armored cruisers of previous series.

The ships of this series had a smooth hull with a slightly bowed bow. To improve seaworthiness, the ships had a long forecastle, continuing from the stem and to the stern tower of the main caliber. In the bow of the hull was a rectangular superstructure, which served as the basis for the bridge and massive combat mast with closed Mars. In the stern there was a light signal mast, and a mounted searchlight platform.

On cruisers of the Leon Gambetta type, there were four tubes, arranged in two groups of two. Like previous ships, they were equipped with many protruding fan nozzles.

Armament

The armament of cruisers such as the Leon Gambetta was significantly strengthened to match their new opponents - the British armored cruisers. Their main caliber was represented by four 194-mm 40-caliber guns of the 1896 model , mounted in pairs in the bow and stern two-gun towers. The bow tower was located on the tank deck, and could fire in any weather; the aft tower was installed a little lower, on the upper deck, but thanks to the high conical barbet, the tower was flooded slightly. The tower installations of the cruiser had an unusual shape; their barbets were conical, directed with the wide side up. This improved the protection of barbets, as enemy shells hit them at a very unfavorable angle for breaking through.

Heavy guns fired with 86 kilogram armor-piercing projectile with an initial speed of 770 m / s. Their rate of fire was about two rounds per minute.

This powerful armament was supplemented by a battery of sixteen 164.7 mm 45-caliber quick-firing guns of the 1896 model . Twelve guns were located in pairs in six two-gun towers, three from each side on the tank deck of the cruiser. At the same time, the central towers performed on sponsons, which allowed them to conduct linear and retirement fire. Four more 164 mm guns were installed in the casemates; two bow on the top, and two stern on the main deck.

Mine weapons consisted of twenty-four 47-mm Hotchkiss guns located in unarmored casemates on the upper deck and on the roof of superstructures. There were also two five-barrel 37-mm revolving guns of Hotchkiss. This weaponry was already considered insufficient to deal with the large destroyers that appeared in the early 1900s, but for the armored cruiser operating in the ocean, the probability of meeting the destroyer was relatively small. Rather, out of habit, rather than for some practical purpose, the cruisers carried two 450-mm underwater traverse torpedo tubes located in the center of the hull and launched torpedoes perpendicular to the course.

Armor Protection

The armor protection of the cruisers was carefully thought out based on the new conditions of warfare at sea. The French traditional belt along the waterline protected the side from the rod to the rod; it was made of Kruppian hardened steel, more durable than the Harvey armor. The height of the belt was 3.5 meters, of which 1 meter was below the waterline. The thickness of the belt in the central part reached 150 millimeters; in addition to the top, it thinned to 120 millimeters, and in the extremities its thickness did not exceed 70 millimeters. According to calculations, the belt could withstand the hit of British 234 mm shells from a distance of more than 3,500 meters.

Like other French armored cruisers, ships of the Leon Gambetta type had two armored decks, separated by a layer of small airtight compartments designed to localize damage. The lower armored deck was 43 millimeters thick; she had bevels at the edges, connected with the lower edge of the armor belt. The upper armored deck had a thickness of 33 millimeters, consisted of three 11 mm layers of shipbuilding steel, it was flat and rested on the upper edges of the armor belt.

The main-caliber towers were protected by 200 mm armor, their barbets were protected by 180 mm plates, the roofs were 50 mm thick. Auxiliary caliber towers were protected by 165 mm and 130 mm plates; their barbets were protected by 103 mm plates. Casemates of auxiliary caliber guns were protected by 140 mm armor.

Powerplant

Cruisers such as the Leon Gambetta were three-shaft. Their power plant consisted of three vertical machines of triple expansion, with a capacity of about 28,500 liters. from. All three cruisers were distinguished by a boiler group; The Leon Gambetta carried twenty-eight Nikloss boilers, the Victor Hugo twenty-eight Belleville boilers, and the Jules Ferry twenty du Temple boilers — the speed of the ships per measured mile was about 22.5 knots. The cruising range at an economical speed of 10 knots was 12,500 km.

During the war, cruisers were supposed to cover transport in the Mediterranean. And they did this: they escorted convoys and delivered goods.

Cruisers such as the Leon Gambetta were a significant step forward in French shipbuilding. All of them were distinguished by good security and seaworthiness , at the time of construction they were one of the best in the world. Their weapons, in comparison with their predecessors , doubled. Thanks to the use of two-gun towers, they carried more powerful weapons than any of the earlier cruisers, if the Zhanna d'Arc airborne volley weighed 417 kg with a displacement of 11,270 tons, then at Leon Gambetta it was already 760 kg at 12,260 tons ^{[4] [com. 1]} . The cruisers received two-gun turrets of medium caliber, a new technical solution gave rise to problems. Over time, the problems that arose were resolved, but this took years ^[5] , nevertheless they became the first ships with two-gun turrets of medium caliber, the guns of which were not inferior in accuracy or rate of fire to single-gun ones.

• The last commander of the cruiser Leon Gambetta , who died along with his ship ^[13] , was Rear Admiral Victor Sene . Before the fight at Chemulpo, he, being the commander of the French hospital " Pascal ", became a close friend of Captain 1st Rank V. Rudnev , commander of the Russian cruiser " Varyag " ^[14] .

• Nenakhov Yu. Yu. Encyclopedia of the Cruisers 1860-1910. - M .: AST, 2006. - ISBN 5-17-030194-4 .
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905 / R. Gardiner. - L .: Conway Maritime Press, 1979.- 448 p. - ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
• Lisitsyn F.V. Kreiser of the First World War / Executive Editor L. Nezvinskaya. - M .: Yauza, EKSMO, 2015 .-- 448 p. - (War at sea). - 1400 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-84344-2 .
• Gröner, Erich. Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815-1945. Band 1: Panzerschiffe, Linienschiffe, Schlachschiffe, Flugzeugträger, Kreuzer, Kanonenboote. - Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1982. - 180 p. - ISBN 978-3763748006 .