French cruiser Desaix

The Dupleix-class ships were much smaller and more lightly armed than the preceding {{ship|French cruiser|Jeanne d'Arc|1899|2}}. They measured {{convert|132.1|m|ftin|sp=us}} long overallSilverstone, p. 79 with a beam of {{convert|17.8|m|ftin|sp=us}} and had a maximum draft of {{convert|7.46|m|ftin|sp=us}}. The cruisers displaced {{convert|7700|t|LT|sp=us|lk=on|0}} as designed. They normally had a crew of 19 officers and 550 enlisted men, but accommodated 24 officers and 583 enlisted men when serving as a flagship.Jordan & Caresse, p. 82

The sister ships' propulsion machinery consisted of three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft, using steam provided by water-tube boilers, but the types of machinery differed between them. Desaix had four-cylinder engines fed by 24 Belleville boilers that were designed to produce a total of {{convert|17100|PS|lk=on|sp=us}} intended to give them a maximum speed of {{convert|21|kn|lk=in}}. Despite exceeding her horsepower rating, the ship failed to reach her designed speed during her sea trials on 17 November 1903, only attaining {{convert|20.6|kn}} from {{convert|17861|PS|sp=us}}. The sisters carried up to {{convert|1200|t|sp=us}} of coal and could steam for {{convert|6450|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 82, 94

The ships of the Dupleix class had a main armament that consisted of eight quick-firing (QF) Canon de 164.7 mm Modèle 1893–1896 guns. They were mounted in four twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure and a pair of wing turrets amidships.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 305 The cruisers' secondary armament consisted of four QF Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1891 guns on single mounts in casemates in the hull. For defense against torpedo boats, they carried ten QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss and four {{convert|37|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} Hotchkiss guns, all of which were in single mounts.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 82, 89–90 The ship were also equipped with two above-water {{convert|450|mm|in|adj=on|1|sp=us}} torpedo tubes, one on each broadside.

The nickel steel armor belt of the Dupleix-class cruisers covered the entire waterline length of the ship except for {{convert|62|ft|m|sp=us|1|disp=flip}} of the stern. The belt armor was {{convert|102|mm|sp=us|0}} thick, although it reduced to {{convert|84|mm|in|sp=us}} in front of the forward turret. The curved protective deck had a total thickness of {{convert|42|mm|in|sp=us}} on the flat and {{convert|70|mm|1|sp=us}} on the upper part of the curved portion where it met the bottom edge of the belt armor. The face and sides of the gun turrets were protected by {{convert|110|mm|in|sp=us|adj=on|1}} Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The armor protection of the gun barbettes was {{convert|120|mm|in|sp=us}} thick. The 100-millimeter guns were in unprotected embrasures in the hull. The sides of the elliptical conning tower were 100 to 120 millimeters thick.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 91–92

Named after the French Revolutionary-era General Louis Desaix,Silverstone, p. 95 the ship was ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire on 28 December 1897. Construction was considerably delayed when the armament configuration was revised after the ship had already been laid down; the contract for Desaix was revised to account for the changes on 3 September 1899. The cruiser was laid down at their shipyard in Nantes in early 1899Jordan & Caresse, pp. 81–82 and launched on 21 March 1901. Desaix began her sea trials on 6 August 1902 and she was finally commissioned on 5 April 1904. The ship cost 19,068,975 francs.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 81–82, 213

Desaix was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet's Light Squadron ({{lang|fr|Escadre légère}}) upon completion, together with her sister {{ship|French cruiser|Kléber||2}}. Desaix relieved her other sister, {{ship|French cruiser|Dupleix|1900|2}}, as the flagship of the Atlantic Division in September 1905, but replaced Kléber in the Light Squadron when she returned to the Mediterranean in November 1906. Desaix rejoined the Atlantic Division in 1908, but was placed in reserve in 1909 and remained in that status for the next five years.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 95, 210

As tensions rose during the July Crisis of 1914, Desaix, Kléber and the other cruisers in reserve were reactivated. The sisters were assigned to the 3rd Light Division ({{lang|fr|3^e Division légère}} (DL)) of the 2nd Light Squadron ({{lang|fr|Escadre 2^e légère}}) which was tasked to defend the English Channel in conjunction with the British. The 3rd DL was on station in the western end of the Channel by 4 August, where they were tasked to intercept German shipping and provide distant cover to the smaller ships escorting the transports conveying the British Expeditionary Force to France.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 223–224

Improved defenses in the Channel and the stabilization of the front in early 1915 allowed the cruisers to be released from their tasks, so Desaix was assigned to the 3rd Squadron upon her arrival in the Eastern Mediterranean on 16 February. The squadron was tasked to patrol the area between Port Said, Egypt, and Alexandretta, Ottoman Syria. The cruiser was detached in May to assist the 1st Naval Army ({{lang|fr|1^re Armée Navale}}) in the Central Mediterranean with searching for German shipping near Italian ports; Desaix was tasked to watch Palermo, Sicily from 18 May. After 6 June, when the Italians agreed to take over that duty, the cruiser was assigned to reinforce the 2nd DL as it patrolled the area between Capo Colonna in southern Italy and the easternmost point of the Greek island of Crete. Later that month, she rejoined the 3rd Squadron and was tasked to help blockade the Ottoman coast from Latakia, Syria, to Mersin, together with the protected cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Guichen|1897|2}} and the seaplane carrier {{ship|French cruiser|Foudre||2}}. The ships helped to rescue a group of Armenian refugees who were being pursued by the Ottomans from the mountains near Antioch, Syria, on 12–13 September.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 232–235

The successes of German merchant raiders like {{SMS|Möwe|1914|2}} in 1916 caused the Allies to transfer cruisers to the Atlantic to protect their shipping. Desaix joined her sisters in the newly formed 6th DL in April 1916, based in Dakar, French West Africa. To release manpower for higher-priority patrol boats, the 6th DL was reduced to two ships and renamed the Coast of Africa Division ({{lang|fr|Division navale de la côte d'Afrique}}) on 18 May 1917. The division was disbanded on 14 September when Dupleix was sent home to be placed in reserve. Desaix remained at Dakar for the rest of the war, tasked to escort convoys in the South Atlantic.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 242, 245, 247

The ship returned to France after the war, but was assigned to the Far Eastern Division in 1919. Departing in November her service there was uneventful and the ship arrived back in France on 31 March 1921 after which she was decommissioned. Desaix was stricken from the Navy List on 27 July, but was not sold for scrap until 1927.Jordan & Caresse, pp. 254, 256

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor1-last=Chesneau |editor1-first=Roger|editor2-last=Kolesnik|editor2-first=Eugene M.|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich, UK|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|name-list-style=amp|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{cite book |last1=Jordan |first1=John |last2=Caresse |first2=Philippe |title=French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932 |date=2019 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley, UK |isbn=978-1-5267-4118-9|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}

{{Dupleix class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desaix}}

Category:Dupleix-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in France

Category:1901 ships

Category:World War I cruisers of France