French cruiser Coëtlogon (original) (raw)

Coëtlogon was a protected cruiser of the Forbin class built in the late 1880s and early 1890s for the French Navy; she was the last member of her class to be built. The Forbin-class cruisers were built as part of a construction program intended to provide scouts for the main battle fleet. They were based on the earlier unprotected cruiser Milan, with the addition of an armor deck to improve their usefulness in battle. They had a high top speed for the time, at around 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), and they carried a main battery of four 138 mm (5.4 in) guns.