French cruiser Casabianca
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 Casabianca, early in her career, c. 1896 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Casabianca |
| Builder | Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde, Lormont |
| Laid down | January 1894 |
| Launched | 21 September 1895 |
| Commissioned | 1896 |
| Fate | Mined and sunk, 3 June 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | D'Iberville-class torpedo cruiser |
| Displacement | 970 long tons (990 t) |
| Length | 80 m (262 ft 6 in) pp |
| Beam | 8.08 to 8.2 m (26 ft 6 in to 26 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 140–143 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Casabianca was the third and final member of the D'Iberville class of torpedo cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The class is also sometimes classified as torpedo gunboats or torpedo avisos. The D'Iberville-class ships were a development of earlier torpedo cruisers, with the chief improvement being a significantly higher speed. Casabianca was armed with three 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes and a single 100 mm (3.9 in) gun as her primary offensive armament.
The ship served with the Mediterranean Squadron for the majority of her peacetime career, following her completion in 1896. During this time, her chief activities consisted of annual fleet maneuvers conducted every summer. She had been stationed as a guard ship in Tunis, French Tunisia in 1901, before returning to the Mediterranean Squadron by 1903. She was later converted into a minelayer in 1913, and served in this capacity during World War I. Casabianca accidentally struck one of her own mines during an operation off Smyrna on 3 June 1915, sinking with the loss of half of her crew. Sixty-six survivors were rescued by a nearby British destroyer.
In the early 1880s, the French Navy began building a series of torpedo cruisers to make use of the new, self-propelled Whitehead torpedo. The first classes of these vessels, the Condor and Wattignies classes, were relatively large vessels. Two further classes, the Bombe and Lévrier classes, were significantly smaller ships.[1] The three vessels of the D'Iberville class marked a return to larger vessels, with greatly increased speed compared to their predecessors.[2] All of these ships have been alternatively called torpedo cruisers, torpedo gunboats, or torpedo avisos.[1][3][4]
Casabianca was 80 m (262 ft 6 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 8.08 to 8.2 m (26 ft 6 in to 26 ft 11 in) and a draft of 3.45 m (11 ft 4 in). She displaced 970 long tons (990 t). Her crew varied from 140 to 143 officers and enlisted men over the course of her career. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning water-tube boilers that were ducted into two funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 5,000 indicated horsepower (3,700 kW) for a top speed of 21.5 to 22 knots (39.8 to 40.7 km/h; 24.7 to 25.3 mph).[5] She had a cruising radius of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[6]
The ship was armed with a main battery of one 100 mm (3.9 in) gun in a pivot mount forward. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried three 65 mm (2.6 in) 9-pounder quick-firing guns and six or seven 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, all in individual mounts. She was also armed with three 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 20 mm (0.8 in) thick, along with same thickness of plating on the conning tower.[5]
