French cruiser Davout

Davout early in her career
Class overview
Preceded by	Amiral Cécille
Succeeded by	Suchet
History
France
Name	Davout
Ordered	1 March 1887
Laid down	12 September 1887
Launched	31 October 1889
Commissioned	20 October 1890
Decommissioned	1 May 1909
Stricken	9 March 1910
Fate	Broken up, 1913
General characteristics
Type	Protected cruiser
Displacement	3,330 t (3,280 long tons; 3,670 short tons)
Length	91.25 m (299 ft 5 in) loa
Beam	11.62 m (38 ft 1 in)
Draft	4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
Installed power	8 × fire-tube boilers 9,000 ihp (6,700 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	20.7 knots (38.3 km/h; 23.8 mph)
Complement	329
Armament	6 × 164 mm (6.5 in) guns 4 × 65 mm (2.6 in) 9-pounder guns 4 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns 2 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 6 × 350 mm (13.8 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 51 to 102 mm (2 to 4 in) Conning tower: 71 mm (2.8 in)

Davout was a protected cruiser of the French Navy that was built in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The ship was ordered during the tenure of Admiral Théophile Aube as the French Minister of Marine, who favored a fleet centered on large numbers of cruisers of various types. Davout and the similar vessel Suchet were ordered to fill the role of a medium cruiser in Aube's plans. Davout was armed with a main battery of six 164 mm (6.5 in) guns in single mounts, and she had a top speed of 20.7 knots (38.3 km/h; 23.8 mph).

Davout had a relatively uneventful career; her completion was delayed by two years due to problems with her propulsion system. After entering service in 1893, she was assigned to the Reserve Squadron, based in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship spent the rest of the decade operating either with the Reserve Squadron for training exercises or as part of the training unit of the French fleet. In 1899, she received a major overhaul that included the installation of new boilers, and in 1902, she was assigned to the North Atlantic Station. By 1910, she had been struck from the naval register, and Davout was subsequently sold to ship breakers.