French armoured cruiser Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta underway
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Léon Gambetta |
| Namesake: | Léon Gambetta, French statesman |
| Builder: | Arsenal de Brest |
| Launched: | 26 October 1901 |
| Commissioned: | 1903 |
| Fate: | Sunk by Austrian U-boat U-5, 27 April 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Léon Gambetta-class Armoured cruiser |
| Displacement: | 12,400 tonnes (12,204 long tons) |
| Length: | 149.1 m (489 ft 2 in) |
| Beam: | 22.5 m (73 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 8.2 m (26 ft 11 in) |
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| Propulsion: | 3 shafts; 3 triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph) |
| Complement: | 728 men |
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The Léon Gambetta was a French Navy armoured cruiser of 12,400 tons, the lead ship of the class of that name. The Gambettas were larger than previous armoured cruisers of the class, but they lacked the heavier firepower. They also were vulnerable to underwater attacks.
She was launched on 26 October 1901 at the Arsenal de Brest. While on steam trial in December 1903, she struck an unknown pinnacle of rock off Black Rock Islands near Brest in fog and suffered considerable damage. Repairs were not complete until mid-1904.
On the night of 27 April 1915, when 15 miles (24 km) south of Santa Maria di Leuca (the south-eastern tip of Italy in the Ionian Sea) in position 39°30′N 18°15′E / 39.500°N 18.250°ECoordinates: 39°30′N 18°15′E / 39.500°N 18.250°E, she was torpedoed twice by Austro-Hungarian submarine U-5 under the command of Korvettenkapitän Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp (later to be known as patriarch of the Von Trapp Family Singers).
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Wikipedia