French cruiser Troude

Troude was a protected cruiser of the French Navy, the lead ship of the Troude class. The class was built as part of a construction program intended to provide scouts for the main battle fleet. They were based on the preceding Forbin class, the primary improvement being the addition of armor to the conning tower. Troude was built in the 1880s and was completed in late 1890. She was armed with a main battery of four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns, protected with an armor deck that was 41 mm (1.6 in) thick, and had a top speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph).

Troude
Troude early in her career
History
France
Name: Troude
Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde
Laid down: November 1886
Launched: 22 October 1888
Completed: January 1891
Struck: 1907 or 1908
Fate: Broken up
General characteristics
Class and type: Troude-class protected cruiser
Displacement: 1,994 long tons (2,026 t)
Length: 95 m (311 ft 8 in) (lwl)
Beam: 9 m (29 ft 6 in)
Draft: 5.18 m (17 ft)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Complement: 201
Armament:
Armor:

Troude spent most of the 1890s in the Mediterranean Squadron, and in 1897, she was transferred to the Levant Division. There, she briefly served as the divisional flagship and later took part in the international intervention in the Cretan Revolt in 1897–1898. By 1901, Troude was in reserve, but she was reactivated in 1903 for a tour with the Atlantic Squadron. She patrolled fisheries off the coast of North America in 1904 before returning to the Atlantic Squadron in 1905. She was struck from the naval register in 1907 or 1908 and thereafter broken up for scrap.

Design
Main article: Troude-class cruiser

Beginning in 1879, the French Navy's Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) had requested designs for small but fast cruisers of about 2,000 long tons (2,032 t) displacement that could be used as scouts for the main battle fleet. The unprotected cruiser Milan was the first of the type, which was developed into the Forbin-type of protected cruisers after the Conseil requested light armor protection for the ships. The design was further refined with the Troude class, which added armor protection for the conning tower, among other improvements. All of the ships were ordered by Admiral Théophile Aube, then the French Minister of Marine and an ardent supporter of the Jeune École doctrine; proponents of the concept favored the use of cruisers to attack an opponent's merchant shipping instead of a fleet of expensive battleships.[1][2]

Troude was 95 m (311 ft 8 in) long at the waterline, with a beam of 9 m (29 ft 6 in) and a draft of 5.18 m (17 ft). She displaced 1,994 long tons (2,026 t). Her crew amounted to 201 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of compound steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by five coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into two funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 5,800 indicated horsepower (4,300 kW) for a top speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph).[3]

The ship was armed with a main battery of four 138 mm (5.4 in) 30-caliber guns in individual pivot mounts, all in sponsons located amidships with two guns per broadside. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried four 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and four 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon. She was also armed with four 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes in her hull below the waterline, and she had provisions to carry up to 150 naval mines. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 41 mm (1.6 in) thick, along with 25 mm (1 in) plating on the conning tower.[3]

Service history
Map of the western Mediterranean, where Troude operated for much of her career

Troude was built at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard in Lormont. She was laid down in November 1886, the first member of her class to begin construction.[3] She was launched on 22 October 1888,[4] completed her sea trials on 18 December 1890,[5] and was accepted by the French Navy in January 1891.[3] By 1893, Troude had been assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron, the main French battle fleet. At that time, the unit also included several modern ironclad warships, the armored cruiser Dupuy de Lome, and four other protected cruisers, Amiral Cécille, Jean Bart, and her sister ships Cosmao and Lalande.[6]

She was still serving in the unit in 1895, by which time the fleet's cruiser division consisted of Troude, Lalande, Cosmao, and the protected cruisers Tage, and Suchet.[7] She took part in the fleet maneuvers that year, which began on 1 July and concluded on the 27th. She was assigned to "Fleet B", which along with "Fleet A" represented the French fleet, and was tasked with defeating the hostile "Fleet C", which represented the Italian fleet.[8] She remained in the Mediterranean Squadron in 1896,[9] and she took part in that year's maneuvers as part of the cruiser screen for the 3rd Division. The maneuvers for that year took place from 6 to 30 July.[10]

Troude initially remained with the active units of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1897.[11] Later that year, she served as the flagship of Rear Admiral Édouard Pottier in the Levant Division at the start of the Cretan Revolt of 1897–1898.[12] By 1898, the armored cruiser Amiral Charner had replaced Troude as the flagship, allowing the latter to return to France.[13] Troude served in the North Atlantic Division in 1900, along with Amiral Cécille and Suchet.[14] Troude and her sister ships had been deactivated and placed in the reserve fleet by January 1901.[15]

In 1903, the ship was reactivated and assigned to the Atlantic Squadron, which had previously been amalgamated with the Northern Squadron. At that time, the unit consisted of Tage, Troude, and the protected cruiser D'Estrées.[16] She operated as part of the Newfoundland and Iceland Naval Division in 1904 in company with the protected cruiser Lavoisier, which was tasked with patrolling fishing areas off the coast of North America.[17] In 1905, she operated in the Atlantic Squadron with the armored cruiser Dupleix and the protected cruiser Jurien de la Gravière.[18] The ship was struck from the naval register in either 1907,[4] or 1908,[3] and was broken up for scrap that year.[4]

Notes
  1. Gardiner, pp. 309–310.
  2. Ropp, pp. 129–130, 172.
  3. Gardiner, p. 310.
  4. Gardiner & Gray, p. 193.
  5. Ships: France, p. 270.
  6. Brassey 1893, p. 70.
  7. Brassey 1895, p. 50.
  8. Gleig, pp. 195–196.
  9. Brassey 1896, p. 62.
  10. Thursfield, pp. 164–167.
  11. Brassey 1897, p. 57.
  12. Robinson, p. 187.
  13. Naval Notes: France, p. 1092.
  14. Garbett, p. 1026.
  15. Jordan & Caresse, p. 219.
  16. Brassey 1903, pp. 58–60.
  17. Meirat, p. 21.
  18. Brassey 1905, p. 42.

References
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1893). "Chapter IV: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 66–73. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1895). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 49–59. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1896). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 61–71. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1897). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 56–77. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1903). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 57–68. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1905). "Chapter III: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 40–57. OCLC 496786828.
  • Garbett, H., ed. (September 1899). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLIII (259): 1024–1027. OCLC 1077860366.
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
  • Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
  • Gleig, Charles (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter XII: French Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 195–207. OCLC 496786828.
  • Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
  • Meirat, Jean (1975). "Details and Operational History of the Third-Class Cruiser Lavoisier". F. P. D. S. Newsletter. Akron: F. P. D. S. III (3): 20–23. OCLC 41554533.
  • "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLII (247): 1091–1094. September 1898. OCLC 1077860366.
  • Robinson, Charles, ed. (March 1897). "The Fleets of the Powers in the Mediterranean". The Navy and Army Illustrated. London: Hudson & Kearns. III: 186–187. OCLC 7489254.
  • Ropp, Theodore (1987). Roberts, Stephen S. (ed.). The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871–1904. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
  • "Ships: France". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. III (1): 269–281. 1891. OCLC 1153223376.
  • Thursfield, J. R. (1897). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Naval Maneouvres in 1896". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 140–188. OCLC 496786828.
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