French cruiser Amiral Aube

Amiral Aube, named after Amiral Théophile Aube,^[7] was authorized in the 1898 Naval Program and was ordered from Chantiers de Penhoët on 9 August 1899. The ship was laid down in February 1901 at their Saint-Nazaire shipyard, launched on 9 May 1902, and completed on 1 April 1904. The cost of her construction was 24,336,000 francs.^[8][9] On commissioning, most of her crew came from the protected cruiser Guichen, which was paid off into the reserve.^[10] The ship was initially assigned to the 1st Cruiser Division (1^re Division de croiseurs) of the Northern Squadron. Together with her sisters Condé and Gloire, Amiral Aube escorted the remains of John Paul Jones from France to Annapolis, Maryland, in April 1906 and then went on to visit New York City.^[11] and was assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Division by January 1907. Amiral Aube rejoined the 1st Cruiser Division by October^[12] and participated in the Quebec Tercentenary in Canada the following July.^[13]

When the République-class battleships began entering service in late 1909, the French Navy reorganized and redesignated units so that the division became the Cruiser Division of the 2nd Squadron (2^e Escadre). By January 1911, she had been joined by Gloire and Condé.^[14] In March the sisters visited New York City.^[15] The division was deployed to the Mediterranean for training in mid-1911 and the ship participated in the fleet review by the President of France, Armand Fallières, off Toulon on 4 September. Amiral Aube was assigned to the Reserve Group (Groupe de réserve) in November 1911 and was reactivated in January 1914 as part of the 1st Cruiser Division of the 2nd Light Squadron that replaced the 2nd Squadron.^[16]

When World War I began on 3 August, the 1st Cruiser Division was redesignated as the 1st Light Division (1^er Division légère (DL)) and transferred to Cherbourg. From there they provided distant cover for the ships enforcing the blockade at the western entrance to the Channel. The 1st DL covered the transports ferrying the British 6th Infantry Division from Southampton to Saint-Nazaire on 9–10 September. On 27 October the French patrols in the Channel were reorganized with Amiral Aube and Gloire tasked to reinforce the smaller cruisers now conducting the patrols.^[17]

After the eastern entrance to the Channel was sealed off with anti-submarine nets and minefields in 1915, the armored cruisers were no longer required and Amiral Aube was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean late that year. She arrived on 24 December and was assigned to the 2nd Division of the 3rd Squadron which patrolled off the Egyptian and Levantine coasts. The constant patrolling caused a lot of wear and tear on the ship's propulsion machinery and she required frequent repairs until she was sent to Brest for a refit in March 1916. Two months later, after another reorganization, Amiral Aube and all of her sisters were assigned to the 3rd DL which was tasked with patrolling the West Indies in search of German commerce raiders. Together with Gloire, Amiral Aube departed Brest on 20 May, bound for Fort-de-France in the colony of Martinique. The 3rd DL was disbanded and the remaining cruisers in the West Indies were assigned to the Atlantic and Antilles Division (Division de l'Atlantique et des Antilles) on 1 June 1917. The division was tasked with escorting convoys bound for Europe from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands beginning on 15 February 1918.^[18]

After the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918, Amiral Aube was sent to North Russia to support the Allied intervention there. The cruiser arrived at Murmansk on 18 March; she supported the Allied occupation of Arkhangelsk on 10 August. The ship returned home in October after being relieved by the armored cruiser Gueydon on the 18th. In early 1919 Amiral Aube was assigned to the Atlantic Division with her sisters. She was placed in reserve in March 1920 in Lorient; the ship was stricken from the naval register on 7 July 1922 and sold for scrap two years later.^[19]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Amiral Aube (ship, 1902).

• Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Garbett, H., ed. (May 1904). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVIII (315). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 560–566. OCLC 1077860366.
• Kennan, George F. (1958). The Decision to Intervene: The Prelude to Allied Intervention in the Bolshevik Revolution. Soviet-American Relations 1917–1920. Vol. II. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. OCLC 1070029044.
• Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2019). French Armoured Cruisers 1887–1932. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4118-9.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.