French cruiser Desaix

Sister ship Kléber at anchor at the Jamestown Exposition, June 1907
History
France
Name	Desaix
Namesake	Louis Desaix
Ordered	28 December 1897
Builder	Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes
Laid down	early 1899
Launched	21 March 1901
Commissioned	5 April 1904
Stricken	27 July 1921
Fate	Scrapped, 1927
General characteristics
Class and type	Dupleix-class armored cruiser
Displacement	7,700 t (7,578 long tons)
Length	132.1 m (433 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam	17.8 m (58 ft 5 in)
Draft	7.46 m (24 ft 6 in)
Installed power	17,100 PS (12,600 kW) 24 Belleville boilers
Propulsion	3 shafts; 3 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	20.6 knots (38.2 km/h; 23.7 mph)
Range	6,450 nmi (11,950 km; 7,420 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	569 607 as flagship
Armament	4 × twin 164.7 mm (6.5 in) guns 4 × single 100 mm (3.9 in) guns 10 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 4 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 84–102 mm (3.3–4.0 in) Deck: 42–70 mm (1.7–2.8 in) Gun turrets: 110 mm (4.3 in) Barbettes: 120 mm (4.7 in) Conning tower: 100–120 mm (3.9–4.7 in)

The French cruiser Desaix was one of three Dupleix-class armored cruisers built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the first decade of the 20th century. Designed for overseas service and armed with eight 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) guns, the ships were smaller and less powerfully armed than their predecessors. Completed in 1904, Desaix was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée) before she was transferred to the Atlantic Division (Division de l'Atlantique) the following year, where she served as a flagship. The cruiser returned to the Mediterranean in 1906, but only remained there for a year before rejoining the Atlantic Division. Desaix was in reserve from 1909 to 1914.

As tensions rose shortly before the beginning of World War I in August 1914, the ship was reactivated. When the war began she was assigned to defend Allied shipping in the English Channel and intercept German ships attempting to pass through. Transferred back to the Mediterranean in early 1915, Desaix spent the next year patrolling off the coast of the Ottoman Levant and in the central Mediterranean. To help protect Allied shipping from German commerce raiders, the ship was transferred to French West Africa in mid-1916 and remained there for the rest of the war. She served in the Far Eastern Division (Division navale de l'Extrême Orient) in 1919–1921 and was decommissioned shortly after her return. Desaix was sold for scrap in 1927.