The class of unprotected cruisers was a group of four ships built for the French Navy in the mid-1870s and early 1880s. The class comprised , , , and . They were designed as part of a naval construction program aimed at modernizing the French fleet in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, and were intended to serve overseas in the French colonial empire. As such, they were fitted with a full-ship rig to allow them to cruise for extended periods of time without burning coal for their steam engine, and they carried a relatively heavy armament of fifteen guns.

and were both involved in attempts to expand the French empire in the mid-1880s, in Southeast Asia and Madagascar, respectively. saw action during the Sino-French War that resulted from France's actions in Asia; she took part in the Keelung campaign, the Battle of Fuzhou, and the blockade of Formosa during the war. participated in the First Madagascar expedition that failed to seize control of the island. and were both sent to reinforce French forces during the Sino-French War, but the conflict had ended by the time they arrived. The ships served for another decade, frequently with the North Atlantic Squadron, and by the late 1890s, all four had been removed from active service. , , and were quickly scrapped. Only survived into the 1900s, being used as a storage hulk until she was broken up in 1920.

Design

In the aftermath of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the French Navy was forced to drastically reduce naval spending and consolidate its forces. The Navy adopted a new construction plan in 1872, which envisioned a fleet for operations in home waters and one to patrol overseas to protect French interests abroad. The squadrons that were to support the French colonial empire were to consist of a small number of second class ironclad warships supported by a large number of wooden cruising vessels. To provide new cruisers under the program, the French Minister of the Navy, Louis Raymond de Montaignac de Chauvance, forwarded a pair of designs to the (Council of Works) on 8 March 1875. The minister had requested designs that strengthened the armament compared to earlier cruisers while keeping displacement similar, at the cost of speed.

The two proposals, which the council reviewed on 28 May, were prepared by Victorin Sabattier and Arthur Bienaymé. They were similar vessels, armed with fifteen guns, all on the upper deck, forecastle, and sterncastle. The council requested that six of these guns be replaced with guns. They also suggested adding a short section of armor amidships around the funnel uptakes, reflecting the experience at the Battle of Havana, where the French aviso was disabled by gunfire that damaged her funnel. Sabattier's design was chosen, but neither of the council's recommendations were adopted. One alteration was made, however, which was to move the forecastle guns a deck lower, firing through embrasures.

Characteristics

, , and were long at the waterline and long between perpendiculars, with a beam of and an average draft of . They displaced . differed slightly from her sisters, being at the waterline and between perpendiculars. Her beam was and her draft was on displacement. Their hulls were constructed with wood, with iron cross beams to support the structure. They had an inverted bow with a ram and an overhanging stern. They had a short forecastle, and their superstructure consisted of a small conning tower placed just forward of amidships. The ship had no armor protection, but the ships did have a partial double bottom. Their standard crew consisted of 269 officers and enlisted men, with the exception of , the crew of which numbered 264.

All four ships were propelled by a single horizontal, 3-cylinder compound steam engine that drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by six coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a single funnel located amidships. The power plant was rated to produce using forced draft, but during her initial speed testing, reached for a top speed of . s propulsion system was rated for at normal draft but reached for a speed of . The ships carried of coal, and at a cruising speed of , they could steam for . To supplement their steam engines, they were fitted with a three-masted full ship rig.

The ships were armed with a main battery of fifteen M1870M 21.3-caliber guns. Two were placed in the forecastle as chase guns, one was atop the stern, and the remainder were placed in an amidships battery on the upper deck, six guns per broadside. Of the broadside guns, the forward three on each side were placed in sponsons, while the remaining three guns were in pivot mounts firing through embrasures. A pair of Hotchkiss revolver cannon provided close-range defense against torpedo boats. They also carried a pair of bronze mountain guns or a single field gun that could be sent ashore with a landing party.

Ships

+ Construction data Name Laid down Launched Completed Shipyard 9 July 1875 21 August 1879 July 1881 , Cherbourg 2 November 1876 6 February 1879 April 1880 , La Seyne-sur-Mer 18 April 1876 9 August 1880 September 1882 , Cherbourg 2 July 1877 14 October 1882 August 1884 , Cherbourg N————

Service history

was sent to East Asia in 1882 as French forces continued their encroachment into Vietnam; further French reinforcements were sent after the Tonkin campaign began in 1883. France's attempts to subjugate northern Vietnam brought the French into conflict with China, which viewed the Vietnamese as being within the Chinese sphere of influence. In July, was sent to blockade the port of Keelung on the island of Formosa, which led to the Keelung campaign, the first major battle of the Sino-French War. During the battle, bombarded Chinese positions and sent a landing party ashore. With the start of a larger war, France activated and to further strengthen French naval forces. In the meantime, next moved to Fuzhou on mainland China with much of the rest of the French fleet, where they attacked the Chinese Fujian Fleet at the Battle of Fuzhou. helped to sink three Chinese cruisers, and then during the lengthy operation to fight their way down the Min River, she assisted with the destruction of numerous Chinese coastal artillery batteries. She then took part in a blockade of Formosa that lasted until April 1885, when the war ended. , , and the other reinforcements that had been dispatched in early 1885 arrived too late to see action during the conflict.

At the same time that was fighting in East Asia, was engaged in another attempt to enlarge the French colonial empire. Having been sent to the Indian Ocean in 1881, joined several other cruisers to launch the First Madagascar expedition, an effort to conquer the island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa. The operations began with an attack on the port of Tamatave in May 1883, where bombarded the town and contributed men to a landing party that seized the area. later helped to defend the city of Mahajanga, where the pro-French Sakalava were fighting government forces. Fighting on the island continued until a peace treaty was signed in December 1885, and the French failed to secure control of the island for the time being.

The rest of the ships' careers passed relatively uneventfully. was sent to the Pacific Ocean after arriving in Chinese waters, while remained in the area. and returned to France in 1887 and 1886, respectively, and they took part in training exercises with the French fleet in the early 1890s. made a deployment to what had by then become French Indochina from 1892 to 1896. and served in the North Atlantic Squadron in turns through the mid-1890s. By the late-1890s, all four ships were removed from active service. and were sold for scrap in 1896 and was converted into a storage hulk the following year. The last to leave active service, was sold to ship breakers in 1898, though remained in the navy's inventory as a storage hulk until 1920, when she was finally sold for scrap.

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