.jpg) Surcouf in the roadstead of Brest, 1902.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Surcouf |
| Ordered | 7 April 1886 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | May 1886 |
| Launched | 9 October 1888 |
| Commissioned | 27 November 1889 |
| Stricken | 4 April 1921 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Forbin-class protected cruiser |
| Displacement | 1,857 t (1,828 long tons; 2,047 short tons) |
| Length | 95 m (311 ft 8 in) lwl |
| Beam | 9.33 m (30 ft 7 in) |
| Draft | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 209 |
| Armament |
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| Armor | Deck: 40 mm (1.6 in) |
Surcouf was the second Forbin-class protected cruiser built for the French Navy in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The Forbin-class cruisers were built as part of a construction program intended to provide scouts for the main battle fleet. They were based on the earlier unprotected cruiser Milan, with the addition of an armor deck to improve their usefulness in battle. They had a high top speed for the time, at around 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), and they carried a main battery of four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns.
The ship saw little activity in the 1890s, being assigned to the Northern Squadron from 1893 to 1895, temporarily reactivated to participate in training exercises with the unit in 1897, and then assigned to the squadron again from 1898 to 1899. During her periods of active service, she was primarily occupied with training maneuvers. Surcouf returned to the Northern Squadron in 1901 and served there through 1908, apart from a brief stint in East Asia in 1902. She saw little activity thereafter, until she was sent to the Gulf of Guinea late in World War I. The ship was ultimately removed from the naval register in 1921 and broken up.