Ex-la Seine? She was laid down at the shipyard of Chantiers de la Gironde on 9 June 1892, launched on 20 October 1895, commissioned in 1896 as a torpedo boat tender, converted into a repair ship nine years later, into a minelayer in 1910 and finally into a seaplane carrier in 1911-1913 (1) with trials starting after 15 April 1912, after the end of the First World War she served as an aviation school ship, decommissioned on1 December 1921 and finally broken up. With a tonnage of 5.971- 6.089 (full load)-6.100 tonnes/6.004 long tonnes were her dimensions 389’9”x 50’10” x 23’0” or 118,8 x 15,5 x 7 metres, The triple expansion engines and 24 boilers supplied 12.000 shp allowing a speed of 19 knots. While uses as a torpedo boat tender she could carry with her eight-ten small torpedo boats and after her conversion into a seaplane tender foureight seaplanes. She was slightly armoured with a 12cm thick deck. Her crew numbered 430 men. The armament consisted of 8-10cm/5” guns, 4-6,5cm/2.6” guns and 2 torpedo tubes.
Note
1. In April 1910 was a commission established by the French navy minister vice admiral Auguste Manuel Hubert Gaston Boué de Lapreyrère to investigate if balloons and/or planes were of use for the navy. Boué (18 January 1852 Castéra-Lectourois, Gers-17 February 1924) was of essential interest for the French navy transferring her into a modern navy and was minister 24 July 1909-1 March 1911. The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad dated 3 October 1910 reported his buying a 2-decker and that he ordered the conversion of the cruiser Foudre dating from 1895 into a plane carrier. This conversion was described as fitting her out with depositories on deck and on fore and aft ship landing and departure facilities. Of course was she after this conversion no longer of value as a warship. There had been extensive experiments ordered while landing and departing from a small platform on a ship in motion by the waves was very difficult according to the reporter.
