Jules Michelet (Armored Cruiser)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Great Britain finally recognized the low efficiency of its fleet of armored cruisers in protecting communications from enemy raiders, and proceeded to the mass construction of armored cruisers. This triggered an immediate response from the French admiralty, which traditionally relied on the cruising war against Britain and on the superiority of the French armored cruisers over the British armored. To preserve the state of affairs, the French laid a series of very large armored cruisers like the Leon Gambetta, superior in combat capabilities to the first British armored cruisers.

By design, the cruiser "Jules Michele" was almost identical to the cruisers of the type "Leon Gambetta", having the same dimensions of the hull and a greater displacement of 1500 tons. The architecture of its hull and superstructures repeated that of the prototype, differing only in minor details.

Armament

The armament of the cruiser "Jules Michele" consisted of four new 194-mm 50-caliber guns of the 1902 model . These guns were much more powerful and more perfect than the previous 40 caliber guns. They were placed in pairs in two-tower turrets, one in the bow of the cruiser on the forecastle, and one in the stern on the main deck. Their rate of fire reached 4 rounds per minute; firing range exceeded 14 kilometers.

Significantly changed auxiliary weapons. It still consisted of twelve 163-mm 45-caliber quick-fire guns of the sample of 1896, but these guns were now located in eight one-gun towers - four on each side - and four casemates, two bow ones on the top and two stern on the main deck. Thus, the survivability of auxiliary caliber artillery was significantly improved.

Mine weapons consisted of twenty-four 47-millimeter guns of Hochkiss, in casemates on the upper deck and on the roof of superstructures. Such weapons did not meet the requirements of the fight with new, larger and faster destroyers; however, it was still considered permissible for the armored cruiser, as the ship operating in the ocean was hardly at significant risk of attacking the destroyers. As a tribute to tradition, the cruiser still carried two 450-millimeter underwater torpedo tubes in the center of the hull, firing perpendicular to the course.

Armor Protection

The armor protection "Jules Michele" corresponded according to the scheme of armor protection of cruisers like "Leon Gambetta". The traditional for the French belt on the waterline defended the board from the pin to the pin; it was made of Krupp hardened steel, more durable than garveeskaya 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; to the upper one, it thinned to 120 millimeters, and in the extremities its thickness did not exceed 100 millimeters (70 at the upper edge).

Like the cruisers of the type "Leon Gambetta", "Jules Michele" had two armored decks, separated by a layer of small sealed compartments, designed to localize damage. The lower armored deck was 45 millimeters thick; it had bevels 65 millimeters thick at the edges, connected to the lower edge of the armor belt. The upper armored deck was 35 millimeters thick, it was flat and rested on the upper edges of the armor belt. Together, the main belt and armored deck bevels formed protection equivalent to more than 200 millimeters for vital parts of the ship.

The towers of the main caliber were protected by 200 mm armor, their barbets were protected by 180 mm plates. Auxiliary caliber towers were protected by 165 millimeter and 130 millimeter plates; their barbets were defended with 130 millimeter plates. The casemates of anti-mine guns were defended with 75 mm armor.

Powerplant

The cruiser powerplant was a three-shaft; three vertical triple-expansion machines powered by steam from twenty-eight Du Templa boilers provided 30,000 horsepower, enough to reach 22.5 knots per meter. The sailing range at an economical 10 knots was 12,500 km.

Being a development of Leon Gambetta-type cruisers, the cruiser Jules Michele was another step in the evolution of French armored cruisers. Compared with the prototype, it had more powerful weapons of the main caliber, and more rationally located auxiliary weapons. Like all French armored cruisers, it was distinguished by excellent seaworthiness, effective armor protection and somewhat lighter weapons.

In terms of combat capabilities, a cruiser of this type was significantly superior to the early British armored cruisers of the Cressy and Drake type, as well as small armored cruisers of the Monmouth and Devonshire type. His booking was designed to reliably protect the waterline from hits of enemy high-explosive shells - capable of smashing the board and reducing the speed of the ship - and, having superiority in speed, Jules Michele could always escape from his opponents.

A fundamental disadvantage of this ship was the protracted construction. Laid down in 1904, the cruiser was put into operation only in 1908, when the appearance of turbine battlecruisers in the fleets of Great Britain and Germany at once made armored cruisers obsolete. Created for ocean raiding, the Jules Michele was inferior to the battle cruisers in speed, and its weapons did not pose any danger to them.

• Yu. Yu. Nenakhov. Encyclopedia of Cruisers 1860–1910. - M .: AST, 2006. - ISBN 5-17-030194-4 .
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. - L .: Conway Maritime Press, 1979. - ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .