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| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Desaix |
| Namesake | Louis Desaix |
| Ordered | 28 December 1897 |
| Builder | Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Nantes |
| Laid down | early 1899 |
| Launched | 21 March 1901 |
| Commissioned | 5 April 1904 |
| Stricken | 27 July 1921 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1927 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Dupleix-class armored cruiser |
| Displacement | 7,700 t (7,578 long tons) |
| Length | 132.1 m (433 ft 5 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 17.8 m (58 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 7.46 m (24 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 3 shafts; 3 triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 20.6 knots (38.2 km/h; 23.7 mph) |
| Range | 6,450 nmi (11,950 km; 7,420 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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The French cruiser Desaix was one of three Dupleix-class armored cruisers built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the first decade of the 20th century. Designed for overseas service and armed with eight 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) guns, the ships were smaller and less powerfully armed than their predecessors. Completed in 1904, Desaix was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée) before she was transferred to the Atlantic Division (Division de l'Atlantique) the following year, where she served as a flagship. The cruiser returned to the Mediterranean in 1906, but only remained there for a year before rejoining the Atlantic Division. Desaix was in reserve from 1909 to 1914.
As tensions rose shortly before the beginning of World War I in August 1914, the ship was reactivated. When the war began she was assigned to defend Allied shipping in the English Channel and intercept German ships attempting to pass through. Transferred back to the Mediterranean in early 1915, Desaix spent the next year patrolling off the coast of the Ottoman Levant and in the central Mediterranean. To help protect Allied shipping from German commerce raiders, the ship was transferred to French West Africa in mid-1916 and remained there for the rest of the war. She served in the Far Eastern Division (Division navale de l'Extrême Orient) in 1919–1921 and was decommissioned shortly after her return. Desaix was sold for scrap in 1927.