 Lavoisier underway
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Lavoisier |
| Namesake | Antoine Lavoisier |
| Builder | Arsenal de Rochefort |
| Laid down | January 1895 |
| Launched | 17 April 1897 |
| Completed | April 1898 |
| Stricken | 1920 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Linois-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 2,285 to 2,318 long tons (2,322 to 2,355 t) |
| Length | 100.63 m (330 ft 2 in) loa |
| Beam | 10.62 m (34 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 5.44 m (17 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) |
| Range | 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 250–269 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Lavoisier was a protected cruiser of the French Navy built in the 1890s, the third and final member of the Linois class. Ordered as part of a large construction program aimed at countering the fleets of France's rivals, the Linois class was intended for use with France's fleets in home waters and in the French colonial empire. Lavoisier was armed with a main battery of four 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns, was protected by an armor deck that was 40 mm (1.6 in) thick and she had a top speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph).
The ship spent the first few years of her career operating with the French Mediterranean Squadron, where she conducted training exercises. In 1903, she began a decade of service with the Newfoundland and Iceland Naval Division, where she typically patrolled the fishing grounds from April to September before returning to France, where she would be decommissioned for the winter. These deployments sometimes included visits to Norway, and some years, after returning to France in September, Lavoisier would be transferred to the Moroccan Naval Division until the next fishing season necessitated her return to the North Atlantic.
Lavoisier was attached to the 2nd Light Squadron in the English Channel at the start of World War I in August 1914, but she saw no action there. She was transferred to the eastern Mediterranean in December 1915, operated briefly with the main French fleet, and then conducted anti-submarine patrols in the western Mediterranean. In 1917, she returned to the Moroccan Naval Division, and the following year, she was reassigned to the Syrian Naval Division, where she remained through the end of the war. In April 1919, Lavoisier was detached from the Syrian Division; decommissioned for the last time in August, she was struck from the Navy Directory in early 1920 and sold to ship breakers.