| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Du Chayla |
| Ordered | 18 March 1893 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 23 March 1894 |
| Launched | 10 November 1895 |
| Commissioned | 15 July 1897 |
| Decommissioned | 28 July 1921 |
| Stricken | 27 October 1921 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1933 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | D'Assas-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 3,957.1 t (3,894.6 long tons; 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 0 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 370–392 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Du Chayla was a protected cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s; she was a member of the D'Assas class. The D'Assas-class cruisers were ordered as part of a construction program directed at strengthening the fleet's cruiser force at a time the country was concerned with the growing naval threat of the Italian and German fleets. The new cruisers were intended to serve with the main fleet and overseas in the French colonial empire. Du Chayla 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).
Du Chayla entered service in 1899, joining the Mediterranean Squadron, where she served for the next eight years. During this period, she was occupied primarily with routine training exercises. In August 1907, she supported an amphibious assault in French Morocco during the Bombardment of Casablanca. During World War I, she patrolled the Atlantic for German commerce raiders but saw no action. By 1918, she had been partially disarmed to supply weapons to the French Army. Du Chayla took part in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1919 but was recalled to France in 1920, where she was struck from the naval register in 1921 and sold to ship breakers.