 Dubourdieu off Mare Island around 1890
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Aréthuse |
| Succeeded by | Milan |
| History | |
 France | |
| Name | Dubordieu |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 6 September 1880 |
| Launched | 6 December 1884 |
| Completed | December 1887 |
| Commissioned | 15 June 1886 |
| Out of service | 9 May 1899 |
| Stricken | 1 December 1899 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1900 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Unprotected cruiser |
| Displacement | 3,354.7 t (3,301.7 long tons) normal |
| Length | 77.3 m (253 ft 7 in) lpp |
| Beam | 14.28 m (46 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Full ship rig |
| Speed | 13.9 knots (25.7 km/h; 16.0 mph) |
| Complement | 412 |
| Armament |
|
Dubordieu was an unprotected cruiser built for the French Navy in the early 1880s. Intended to serve as a long-range commerce raider, the ship was fitted with a sailing rig to supplement its steam engine on long voyages, and she carried an armament of four 165 mm (6.5 in) and twelve 140 mm (5.5 in) guns. She was among the final French unprotected cruisers, thereafter being replaced by more durable protected cruisers. The French Navy was not satisfied with the vessel, owing to her obsolescent design, since she too weak to defeat the more powerful protected cruisers and was too slow to escape from them.
The ship served as the flagship of the Pacific station after entering service in 1889, but was forced to return home the following year to correct defects in her propulsion system. Dubourdieu returned to the Pacific later in 1890 and served there for the next several years. She was recalled home by 1895, and the next year she became the flagship of the North Atlantic station, a role she filled through 1899. The ship was placed in reserve in May that year, before being converted into a training ship; she was quickly sold to ship breakers in 1900.