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Hello everyone and welcome to this new suggestion!
Today I’m presenting a ship from a new class of French warships, the Waldeck Rousseau of the Edgard Quinet class.
The Edgard Quinet class was the final class of armored cruiser in the French Navy. Based on the cruiser Ernest Renan, this class consisted of two ships, making them the last two of the 24 ships of this type designed between 1890 and 1905. Named after a 19th-century historian and politician, this series of ships incorporated all the latest improvements to warships of the era. These ships were not intended to be primary command vessels, but rather fast ships with sufficient armament to perform both reconnaissance duties for the fleet and engage in line-of-battle combat, as was common at the time. The two ships built were the Edgard Quinet and the Waldeck Rousseau, both launched in 1911 and both participating in the First World War.
The Waldeck Rousseau was named after a former French Prime Minister and was commissioned in 1911 after being built at the Lorient Naval Base. Part of the Mediterranean Fleet, based in Toulon, this ship, like many others, was assigned to combat the Austro-Hungarian forces, particularly through a blockade in the Adriatic Sea. Although many battles took place during this period, the Waldeck Rousseau was only involved in combat a few times (two skirmishes with German submarines, but no damage on either side) as it was quickly assigned to patrol duty in the Ionian Sea to defend the Greek Islands. At the end of the First World War, the ship returned to Toulon with the rest of the fleet and participated in the French and British naval intervention in the Black Sea during the Russian Revolution. However, following a mutiny, the ship was relegated to a secondary role within the fleet and only participated in a bombardment of a position to cover the retreat of Russian forces. The ship was decommissioned in 1923, but was recommissioned in 1929 to serve as the flagship of the fleet based in Indochina before returning to France and being decommissioned again, this time for good, and placed in reserve. But this wasn’t the end of the ship’s story. At the outbreak of World War II, the Waldeck Rousseau was positioned off the port of Brest to provide protection, but sank due to its age. The Germans even attempted to disguise it as the Prinz Eugen to lure Allied ships into attacking it, but without success.
Characteristics
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Length : 159 m
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Width : 21.5 m
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Draft : 8.4 m
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Mass : 13,847 tons
The ship was powered by three steam engines and 40 boilers, generating 36,000 horsepower, allowing it to reach a speed of 23 knots and a range of 10,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. Its crew consisted of 860 to 890 sailors.
Weapons
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Guns :
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2 x 2 194mm Mle 1902 guns (one turret forward and one aft)
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10 194mm Mle 1902 guns (in barbettes)
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20 65mm Mle 1902 guns
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Torpedo :
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2 450mm torpedo tubes
Armor
This ship was relatively well-armored for its era
- Belt : 150 mm
- Front reduced to 70 mm
- Aft reduced to 40mm
- Deck
- Lower : 65 mm
- Upper : 30 mm
- Gun Turret : 200 mm
- Barbette : 200 mm
- Casemates : 194 mm
- Tower : 200 mm
In the game, this ship would be an interesting addition for France, providing a cruiser with significant firepower and good armor, but lacking any air defense capabilities, thus complementing the French tech tree alongside the other cruisers already present.
Sources
- WALDECK ROUSSEAU - Croiseur cuirassé | Service historique de la Défense
- ImagesDéfense - Rade de Govino. Les croiseurs cuirassés Waldeck-Rousseau et Jules Michelet. [légende d’origine]
- Edgar Quinet class armoured cruisers
- * EDGAR QUINET (1907/1930)
- CLASSE Edgar Quinet
- EDGAR GUINET ET WALDECK ROUSSEAU. MILO
- MaritimeQuest - Waldeck-Rousseau