Jules Michelet was an armoured cruiser of the French Navy, laid down in 1904 and completed in 1908. It was a development of the of armoured cruisers, and was the sole representative of its type. It served during the First World War being eventually sunk as a target in 1937. Description Jules Michelet was laid down in June 1904 as a modified version of the class of armoured cruisers. It was slightly longer and heavier than the previous class, and while it had a similar machinery layout, with 28 boilers supplying vertical triple-expansion steam engines which drove three propeller shafts, the engines delivered more power, allowing the ship to reach a design speed of . The ship was fitted with four funnels. The main armament was four guns in twin turrets, one each fore and aft, while secondary armament was twelve guns, eight of which were in single turrets and the remaining four in casemates. Although Jules Michelet had four fewer 164 mm guns than the Leon Gambetta class, with single turrets instead of twin turrets, both the main and secondary guns were more powerful models than those carried in the earlier ships. A tertiary anti-torpedo-boat battery of twenty four guns was mounted in casemates. The ship's armament was completed by two submerged torpedo tubes. History The ship was launched in August 1905 and completed in November 1908, reaching a speed of in trials. After entering service, Jules Michelet was assigned to the cruiser squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, based in Toulon. On 27 June 1912, Jules Michelet suffered two gun explosions during firing practice at Toulon, killing four and wounding 21. These explosions were blamed on defective powder. World War I During the First World War, Jules Michelet was part of the Mediterranean Fleet, spending the whole of the war in the Mediterranean. At the start of the conflict, Jules Michelet and the armored cruisers and were mobilized as the First Light Division and tasked with hunting down the German battlecruiser and the light cruiser . The French ships, along with a flotilla of twelve destroyers, were to steam to Philippeville on 4 August, but the German cruisers had bombarded the port the previous day. This attack, coupled with reports that suggested the Germans would try to break out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, prompted the French high command to send Jules Michelet and the First Light Division