Talk:French cruiser Dupuy de Lôme

Move to French armoured cruiser Dupuy de Lôme (1890)

As per WP:NC-SHIP we should use the year the ship was launched, which I believe is 1890 (Steam Steel & Shellfire p.128). 1887 seems to be the year she was designed or authorised. Any comments? The Land (talk) 19:25, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

No comments so I'm going ahead. The Land (talk) 20:12, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Technological Significance

This is undoubtedly an important warship; as significant and influential as the Russian armoured cruisers of the same period. However, it takes a little detailed explanation to make clear how and why this was so for many readers who we must consider as being unlikely to have a thorough knowledge of, or even basic familiarity with, the period in question.

Dupuy de Lome's gun armament combined two features which gave her a great tactical advantage for her date of launch; the turret mountings (which have a very obvious advantage to even the least learned reader) and, just as significantly, being QF weapons of *high-velocity type*.

This last point is hugely significant. Not only did the weapons have high rates of fire compared to naval guns of the 1880s, but these were among the first naval guns to move beyond the old 'black-powder' propellant of 'medium-chase' guns of the 1880s (which had been of typically 28-35 calibres in length with muzzle velocities which were good for the day, especially compared with earlier MLRs, but very low by early 20th C standards). The guns aboard Dupuy de Lome were of 45-calibre type, utilising new propellants, yielding a much higher muzzle velocity. This let the guns shoot further and gave them a better effective range, having flatter trajectories & thus being more accurate at distance, whilst also possessing much greater penetrative power against armour than earlier guns of similar calibre. The tactical advantage was enormous, and much greater than merely mounting the guns in (very useful) turrets.

Dupuy de Lome's speed was very high, marking her out as a fast ship for her day. However, she was by no means the fastest warship afloat when she commissioned, not the fastest cruiser, nor even the fastest First-Class cruiser afloat at the time. However, her speed was high enough that few enemies had any advantage over her and those that did had a very slender one. This would have permitted the French cruiser to exercise considerable control over battle ranges, although if fighting against a cruiser foe who had run her ground, she would not have been able to dictate the terms of the battle with the impunity which the (cliched & very woolly) phrase 'control the range' might suggest to the uninitiated. Instead, her high speed would be a significant factor in mitigating the enemy's speed.

Thirdly, Dupuy de Lome's armour was not the thickest or strongest afloat, but was very decent for the date; especially if facing a fast but lightly-gunned Second-Class cruiser opponent in battle. But the key to her enormous advantage over existing protected cruisers was the *extent* of her armour. Unlike the earlier Britsh and Russian 'belted cruisers' of large and frequently slow type, this thinner armour extended over a large area of the ship's side, rendering her extremely well-protected against meduium artillery of up to 6-inch calibre (a typical cruiser gun of the time). Thus, her great defensive advantage lay in using the new lightweight steel armour technology to make a brief return to the older 'ironclad' concept of armouring as much of the ship's side as possible. This advantage re: protected cruiser schemes, coupled with her lack of sailing rig and purposefully high speed are what really mark her out as distinct from earlier types of 'armoured cruising ship' such as the 'General Admiral', and an early example of a newly-emergent type of cruiser (possibly the first).

These advantages and distinctions have been more accurately reflected in the edits submitted, and will help to clarify the specific historical and technical significance of this ship. 2A00:23C7:3119:AD01:25F2:905F:7FB2:EA5 (talk) 20:42, 1 October 2022 (UTC)