French cruiser Montcalm (1900)


Montcalm was a armoured cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The ship saw service during World War I in the Pacific. Following the war, Montcalm was used as an accommodation ship. In 1934, the vessel was renamed Trémintin and was sunk during World War II by British aircraft.

Design and description

Designed by the naval architect Emile Bertin, the Gueydon-class ships were intended to fill the commerce-raiding strategy of the Jeune École. They measured long overall with a beam of and had a draught of. Montcalm displaced. The ship had a crew of 566 officers and enlisted men.
The Gueydon class had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft. Steam for Montcalms engines was provided by 20 Normand Sigaudy boilers and they were rated at a total of that gave them a speed of. The ships carried up to of coal and could steam for at a speed of.
The ships of the Gueydon class had a main armament that consisted of two 40-caliber [Canon de 194 mm Modèle 1893-1896|] guns that were mounted in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised eight 45-caliber quick-firing (QF) [Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893|] guns in casemates. For anti-torpedo boat defense, they carried four 45-caliber QF [Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1891|] guns on the forecastle deck, as well as ten QF [QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss|] and four QF Hotchkiss guns. They were also armed with two submerged torpedo tubes.
The Harvey armor belt of the Gueydon-class cruisers covered most of the ships' hull. The lower strake of armor was generally thick, although it reduced to forward, aft, and thinned to at its lower edge. The upper strake of armor had thicknesses of and between the main and upper decks. The curved lower protective deck ranged in thickness from 51 to 56 millimetres. In addition there was a light armor deck thick at the top of the lower armor strake. A watertight internal cofferdam, filled with cellulose, stretched between these two decks. The gun turrets were protected by armor and had roofs thick. The 100-millimetre guns were protected by gun shields and the sides of the conning tower were 160 millimetres thick.

Construction and career

Laid down by Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée at their La Seyne-sur-Mer shipyard on 27 September 1898, she was launched on 27 March 1900 and was commissioned on 24 March 1902, before completing her trials, to ferry the President of the Republic, Émile Loubet, to Russia. Later that year she was commissioned for service in China, leaving Toulon in February 1903 and calling at Djibouti on her way out.
After the outbreak of World War I, Montcalm supported in the Australian capture of Rabaul in September 1914. She was decommissioned and hulked as an accommodation ship on 28 October 1926. The ship was renamed Trémintin on 26 September 1934. She was at Brest in 1940 and was there sunk by the Royal Air Force on 16 August 1944.