Protected Cruisers: D'Estrées Class

[Brian James]

Lead Ship, Protected Cruiser D'Estrées pictured at Arsenal de Rochefort in 1899....D'Estrées served in the Northern Squadron after her completion in 1899 before being transferred to the Atlantic Training Division in 1902. She remained in the unit for the next several years. At the start of World War I in August 1914, the ship was initially assigned to the 2nd Light Squadron, but was quickly transferred to reinforce the Syrian Division for operations against the Ottoman Empire. D'Estrées bombarded Ottoman positions along the Syrian coast and helped to enforce a blockade there. She was moved to the Red Sea in 1916, where she patrolled for German Commerce Raiders for the rest of the war, though she saw no further action. After the war, she was sent to French Indochina, where she spent the remainder of her career. D'Estrées was struck from the naval register in 1922 and broken up.