 Isly underway, c. 1894
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Isly |
| Ordered | 1 March 1887 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Brest |
| Laid down | 3 July 1887 |
| Launched | 22 June 1891 |
| Commissioned | 25 October 1892 |
| Decommissioned | 13 March 1911 |
| In service | 20 September 1893 |
| Stricken | 23 November 1911 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1914 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Jean Bart-class cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 109.6 m (359 ft 7 in) long overall |
| Beam | 13.3 m (43 ft 8 in) |
| Draft | 6.05 m (19 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Range | 7,014 nmi (12,990 km; 8,072 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 331–405 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
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Isly was a Jean Bart-class protected cruiser built in the late 1880s and early 1890s for the French Navy. The second and final member of the class, Isly and her sister ship were ordered during the tenure of Admiral Théophile Aube as Minister of Marine according to the theories of the Jeune École doctrine. The ships were intended as long-range commerce raiders, and they were armed with a main battery of four 164 mm (6.5 in) guns, were protected by an armor deck that was 50 to 100 mm (2 to 4 in) thick, and were capable of steaming at a top speed of around 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
Isly initially served with the Reserve Division of the Northern Squadron, spending only part of the year in active service for training exercises. She was deployed to French Indochina from 1895 to 1896 and then again from 1897 to 1899. After returning to France, she joined the North Atlantic station, operating out of Brest. Isly spent the next decade serving in the Atlantic, changing units as the fleet was repeatedly reorganized; she also received new water-tube boilers in 1902. In 1908, she was briefly sent to French Morocco, and the following year she was converted into a depot ship for destroyers. She was struck from the naval register in 1914 and thereafter broken up.