 D'Assas; note her yards tilted in opposite directions, a sign of mourning
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | D'Assas class |
| Builders | |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Descartes class |
| Succeeded by | Catinat class |
| Built | 1894–1898 |
| In service | 1898–1924 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Retired | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 3,944.6 to 3,957.1 t (3,882.3 to 3,894.6 long tons; 4,348.2 to 4,362.0 short tons) |
| Length | 99.65 m (326 ft 11 in) loa |
| Beam | 13.68 m (44 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 370–392 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
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The D'Assas class comprised three protected cruisers of the French Navy built in the early 1890s; the ships were D'Assas, Cassard, and Du Chayla. They were ordered as part of a naval construction program directed at France's rivals, Italy and Germany, particularly after Italy made progress in modernizing its own fleet. The plan was also intended to remedy a deficiency in cruisers that had been revealed during training exercises in the 1880s. As such, the D'Assas-class cruisers were intended to operate as fleet scouts and in the French colonial empire. The ships were armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns supported by four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns and they had a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). A fourth ship, designated "G3" in the 1894 budget, was authorized but was canceled the following year.
All three ships began service in the Mediterranean Squadron in the late 1890s, though D'Assas was later transferred to the Northern Squadron in 1901 and then to French Indochina in 1904. Du Chayla supported an amphibious landing in French Morocco in 1907 and Cassard joined her there the following year. D'Assas was discarded in 1914, but the other two members of the class saw service during World War I, primarily patrolling the Atlantic for German commerce raiders. Both ships were partially disarmed late in the conflict and Cassard became a gunnery training ship while Du Chayla remained in active service. She took part in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919 before being sold to ship breakers in 1920, while Cassard lingered on in service until 1924, when she, too, was sold for scrap.
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