NAVYPEDIA

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Agile			F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne		4.7.1889	1889	sold 1912
Audacieux			F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne		8.5.1889	1889	collision 10.7.1896
Eclaire			F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne		29.8.1891	1891	sold 1911
Kabyle			F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne		11.1891	1892	sold 1911
Orage			F C de la Méditerranée, La Seyne		15.10.1891	1892	sold 1921
Sarrazin			A C de la Gironde, Bordeaux		25.6.1892	1894	sold 1908
Tourbillon			A C de la Gironde, Bordeaux		10.10.1892	1894	sold 1911

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	102
Displacement full, t	119 Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 129
Length, m	43.6 wl Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 44.2 wl
Breadth, m	4.55
Draught, m	1.10
No of shafts	1
Machinery	Agile, Audacieux: 1 VTE, 1 locomotive boiler Eclaire, Kabyle, Orage: 1 VTE, 2 Thornycroft boilers Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 1 VTE, 2 Du Temple boilers
Power, h. p.	1100
Max speed, kts	20
Fuel, t	coal 35
Endurance, nm(kts)	3000(10.5)
Armament	Agile, Audacieux, Eclaire, Kabyle: 3 x 5 - 37/20 M1885, 3 x 1 - 350 TT Orage, Sarrazin, Tourbillon: 3 x 5 - 37/20 M1885, 1 - 380 TT (bow), 1 x 1 - 380 TT
Complement	27

Project history

The prototype pair were ordered on 3.8.1888 to the design of the director of the La Seyne yard. They were not as fast as the Avant-Garde at between 20 and 21kts, but were robust and economical, with a high level of stability, and an unrivalled radius of 3000nm at 10.5kts. The major disadvantages were the single boiler and propeller. They originally had one funnel and two masts. The repeat order for three boats was placed on 2.5.1890, but these were constructed with heavier scantlings and two watertube boilers (hence two funnels). The boilers were highly successful and all three made 21.5kts on trials.

Two further boats had been ordered on 9.4.1890 to a design modified by the Gironde yard, but a series of boiler accidents culminating in the explosion aboard Sarrazin on 13.1.1894 delayed their entry into service for nearly two years while du Temple boilers were substituted instead of original Babillot. They never achieved 21kts, and their Cail-built engines gave frequent trouble. As early as 1896 they could do not more than 18kts.

Modernizations

None.

Naval service

Audacieux sank after collision 10.7.1896.