Operators French Navy Succeeded by Châteaurenault (1898) In commission 1899-1921 Construction started October 1895 Length 133 m Displacement 8.151 million kg | Preceded by D'Entrecasteaux Built 1895-1899 Completed 1 Launched 26 October 1897 Weight 8,151 tons | |
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French cruiser guichen top 6 facts
Guichen was a protected cruiser of the French Navy launched in 1897, commissioned in 1899 and retired in 1921. It was constructed by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire at Saint-Nazaire.
Guichen first steamed from Saint-Nazaire to undergo sea trials out of Toulon. In September 1903 she carrieded President Émile Loubet to Britain for an official visit. In 1913 she was converted into a training ship for boatswains at Brest. She was in the Channel at the start of the First World War, but in 1915 she was transferred to the 3rd blockading squadron off Syria. In September, under Captain Joseph Brisson, she helped evacuate Armenian resistors from Musa Dagh after one of her crew spotted an Armenian flag flying over the fortress. She conveyed her refugees to Port Said. It was, according to Lord Bryce, "the only story ... with a happy ending" in his report on the treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
In November 1916 Guichen and Lutétia transported a Russian expeditionary force to the Salonika Front. In 1917 Guichen transported some of the Armée d'Orient from Taranto to Bizerte. In 1919 she was sent to the Black Sea as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, but she suffered a mutiny, led by Charles Tillon, future leader of the Communist Party. She was retired in 1921, and condemned and sold at Brest in 1922.