French cruiser Infernet

Profile and plan drawing of D'Estrées

In the 1880s and 1890s, factions in the French Navy's officer corps argued over the types of cruiser that best served France's interests. Some argued for a fleet of small but fast protected cruisers for commerce raiding, another sought ships useful for patrolling the country's colonial possessions, while another preferred vessels more suited to operations with the home fleet of battleships. The two cruisers of the D'Estrées class were ordered under the construction program of 1896 at the behest of the colonialists for use in the French overseas empire.[1]

Infernet was 95 m (311 ft 8 in) long overall, with a beam of 12 m (39 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5.39 m (17 ft 8 in). She displaced 2,428 long tons (2,467 t). Her crew numbered 235 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning Normand-type water-tube boilers that were ducted into two widely spaced funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce 8,500 indicated horsepower (6,300 kW) for a top speed of 20 to 20.5 knots (37.0 to 38.0 km/h; 23.0 to 23.6 mph).[2] She had a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3]

The ship was armed with a main battery of two 138 mm (5.4 in) Modèle 1893 45-caliber guns. They were placed in individual pivot mounts with gun shields, one forward and aft on the centerline. These were supported by a secondary battery of four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns, which were carried in sponsons. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried eight 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns and two 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder guns. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was 38 to 43 mm (1.5 to 1.7 in) thick.[2]

Profile view of one of the D'Estrées-class cruisers

Infernet was built at the Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde shipyard; her keel was laid down in December 1896.[2] The ship was launched on 7 September 1899, having already had her propulsion machinery installed,[4][5] and she was completed in 1900.[2] She was slated to be deployed to the Pacific, where she was to join the protected cruiser Protet and the transport vessel Aube.[6] But the completion of her sea trials was delayed until later that year; during speed tests, she reached a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), exceeding her contract speed by half a knot.[7] The ship was named for Captain Louis-Antoine-Cyprien Infernet, a French naval officer who had seen action at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.[8]

By January 1901, Infernet had instead been assigned to the Northern Squadron, which was stationed in Brest, France,[9] though she was not in commission. On 15 March, Infernet was commissioned for a deployment to the East Indies station, where she was to replace the old unprotected cruiser Nielly. The unit was stationed in French Madagascar, then a French colony.[10] There, she joined the cruiser Catinat.[11] The two ships remained on the station in 1902, along with a pair of smaller vessels.[12] Infernet was transferred to the East Indies in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans in 1903.[13] On 4 to 8 March she visited Kuwait, along with the Russian cruiser Boyarin, which was carrying the Russian Consul at Bushire (in modern Iran).[14][15] The Russian Consul met Ibn Saud, the ruler of Najd, who was in Kuwait at the time, and promised him financial assistance and rifles. This caused concern to the British, who considered any foreign interference in the Persian Gulf area 'a very grave menace to British interests.'[15][16] On 15 March, Infernet, still accompanied by Boyarin, stopped in Muscat to take on coal,[16] and while there, she was visited by Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman. The British cruiser HMS Perseus was present at the time, and Infernet's captain visited the cruiser. She made another stop in the port on 15 May, where she was again visited by bin Turki.[13][17] She remained in the region through 1905, along with the gunboat Capricorne and a transport aviso.[18]

Infernet returned to home waters sometime thereafter, and was sold to ship breakers by November 1910. On 12 November, the German tugboat Hercule took Infernet under tow from La Rochelle to bring her to the breaker's yard in Stettin, Germany, but four days later, the tow line broke in heavy seas. Infernet drifted aground off Les Sables-d'Olonne on the Atlantic coast of France and Hercule sheltered in that port. Infernet was found to have come to rest on a shoal, but the water was too low to allow her to be refloated; an initial survey noted that the ship's propellers and rudder were damaged in the grounding.[19][20] Infernet proved to be a total loss.[5]

• Brassey, Thomas A. (1902). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 47–55. OCLC 496786828.
• Brassey, Thomas A. (1903). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 57–68. OCLC 496786828.
• Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Fraser, Edward (1906). The Enemy at Trafalgar: An Account of the Battle From Eye-Witnesses' Narratives and Letters and Despatches From the French and Spanish Fleets. London: Hodder & Stoughton. OCLC 752897525.
• Garbett, H., ed. (September 1899). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLIII (259): 1024–1027. OCLC 1077860366.
• Garbett, H., ed. (February 1901). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLV (276): 196–199. OCLC 1077860366.
• Garbett, H., ed. (May 1904). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLVIII (315): 560–566. OCLC 1077860366.
• Garbett, H., ed. (June 1904). "Naval Notes: France". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. London: J. J. Keliher & Co. XLVIII (316): 707–711. OCLC 1077860366.
• Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
• Leyland, John (1900). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter II: The Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 24–62. OCLC 496786828.
• Leyland, John (1901). "Chapter II: The Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 33–70. OCLC 496786828.
• Reeve, A. (1904). The Commission of H.M.S. Perseus: East Indies. Including Persian Gulf and Somaliland, 1901–1904. London: The Westminster Press. OCLC 38470445.
• Roberts, Stephen (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
• Ropp, Theodore (1987). Roberts, Stephen S. (ed.). The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871–1904. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
• Smigielski, Adam (1985). "France". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 190–220. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.

• Fisher, Edward C., ed. (1969). "157/67 French Protected Cruiser Infernet". Warship International. Toledo: International Naval Research Organization. VI (3): 238–239. ISSN 0043-0374.