 D'Assas; note her yards tilted in opposite directions, a sign of mourning
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | D'Assas |
| Ordered | 15 November 1893 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire |
| Laid down | 1 April 1894 |
| Launched | 28 March 1896 |
| Completed | 23 April 1898 |
| Commissioned | 24 March 1897 |
| Decommissioned | 1 January 1908 |
| Stricken | 9 September 1910 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | D'Assas-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 3,944.6 t (3,882.3 long tons; 4,348.2 short tons) |
| Length | 99.64 m (326 ft 11 in) loa |
| Beam | 13.68 m (44 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 5.8 m (19 ft 0 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 370–392 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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D'Assas was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The D'Assas-class cruisers were ordered as part of a construction program directed at strengthening the fleet's cruiser force. At the time, France was concerned with the growing naval threat of the Italian and German fleets, and the new cruisers were intended to serve with the main fleet, and overseas in the French colonial empire. D'Assas was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, was protected by an armor deck that was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick, and was capable of steaming at a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).
D'Assas initially served with the Mediterranean Squadron after entering service in 1898, and by 1901, she had been transferred to the Northern Squadron. During this period, she was occupied with routine peacetime training exercises with the rest of the main French fleets in home waters. In 1904, she was assigned to France's cruiser squadron in East Asia, and the following year, she assisted with the unsuccessful attempt to re-float the armored cruiser Sully after it ran aground. D'Assas passed the next several years uneventfully and was struck from the naval register in 1910; she was then used as a storage hulk before being sold to ship breakers in 1914.