Obverse
歓迎 - Welcome
橫濱 - Yokohama [City]
紀元二千五百七十九年 - 2579 Year of Imperial Era = 1919
Original case.
徽章 - Badge
橫濱市 - Yokohama City
有志主能 - Volunteer Initiative
佛艦「デストレー」歡迎會 - Welcome Meeting for the French Warship "D'Estrées"
1919 French cruiser D'Estrées Yokohama City Welcome Meeting Badge/紀元二千五百七十九年橫濱市有志主能佛艦「デストレー」歡迎會徽章
Obverse
歓迎 - Welcome
橫濱 - Yokohama [City]
紀元二千五百七十九年 - 2579 Year of Imperial Era = 1919
Original case.
徽章 - Badge
橫濱市 - Yokohama City
有志主能 - Volunteer Initiative
佛艦「デストレー」歡迎會 - Welcome Meeting for the French Warship "D'Estrées"
D'Estrées was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers built for the French Navy in the late 1890s. The class was ordered as part of a construction program directed at strengthening the fleet's cruiser force at a time the country was concerned with the growing naval threat of the Italian and German fleets, and were intended to serve overseas in the French colonial empire. D'Estrées was armed with a main battery of two 138 mm (5.4 in) guns, was protected by an armor deck that was 38 to 43 mm (1.5 to 1.7 in) thick, and was capable of steaming at a top speed of up to 20 to 20.5 knots (37.0 to 38.0 km/h; 23.0 to 23.6 mph).
D'Estrées in Shanghai in around 1920.
At the start of World War I in August 1914, D'Estrées was stationed in the English Channel as part of the 2nd Light Squadron, which at that time consisted of the armored cruisers Marseillaise, Amiral Aube, Jeanne d'Arc, Gloire, Gueydon, and Dupetit-Thouars. The unit was based in Brest and along with D'Estrées, the squadron was strengthened by the addition of several other cruisers over the following days, including the armored cruisers Kléber and Desaix, the protected cruisers Châteaurenault, Lavoisier, Friant, and Guichen, and several auxiliary cruisers. The ships then conducted a series of patrols in the English Channel in conjunction with a force of four British cruisers. On 25 August, many of the cruisers were detached for other purposes, and D'Estrées was reassigned to the Division de Syrie (Syrian Division) in the eastern Mediterranean.
On 31 January 1915, French naval forces in the region were reorganized as the 3e Escadre (3rd Squadron). In late April, fears that the Ottoman Empire was planning an attack on the Suez Canal prompted the French to send D'Estrées, the protected cruiser D'Entrecasteaux, and Jeanne d'Arc to Port Said to reinforce the warships supporting the land defenses of the canal. No attack materialized, and the ships were sent to bombard Ottoman positions along the coast to force them to disperse their units rather than make attacks on the Suez Canal. D'Estrées and Jeanne d'Arc shelled fuel depots at Alexandretta and Mersina and a factory in Jaffa in May. D'Estrées attacked the German consulate in Alexandretta on 13 May after the local Ottoman official refused to lower the German flag at the building. She destroyed a fuel depot the next day. They also bombarded the German consulates in the first two cities, along with the one in Haifa. D'Estrées, in pursuit of an Ottoman merchant vessel, stopped in Baniyas on 18 May after the steamer fled into the port. D'Estrées sent a boat into the harbor to search for the vessel, and after the French came under fire from Ottomans ashore, D'Estrées bombarded the town, destroying part of it.
Vice Admiral Louis Dartige du Fournet, the commander of the unit, declared a blockade of the coast on 25 June. D'Estrées was assigned to patrol duty in company with the armored cruiser Amiral Charner and the pre-dreadnought Jauréguiberry. D'Estrées assisted in the evacuation of some 4,000 Armenians, who were fleeing the Armenian genocide, from Antakya on 12 and 13 September. Amiral Charner, Guichen, Desaix, and the seaplane tenders Foudre and HMS Anne also contributed to the evacuation effort. As additional forces arrived in the region, the French reorganized the squadron into two divisions, D'Estrées being assigned to the 3rd Squadron on 8 November.
On 20 September 1916, the ship was transferred to the Red Sea, based at Jeddah. She remained there on patrol duty for the rest of the conflict; during this period, she also escorted convoys from French Madagascar to French Somaliland through May 1917. She also patrolled off the island of Socotra. In November, she joined the hunt for the German commerce raider SMS Wolf, which was known to be operating in the Indian Ocean. She was sent to the Maldives, where she learned that civilians there had seen Wolf and the captured Japanese steamer SS Hitachi Maru, but by that time, the German raider and her prize were gone. In 1918, D'Estrées was replaced by the cruiser Du Chayla.
At the start of World War I in August 1914, D'Estrées was stationed in the English Channel as part of the 2nd Light Squadron, which at that time consisted of the armored cruisers Marseillaise, Amiral Aube, Jeanne d'Arc, Gloire, Gueydon, and Dupetit-Thouars. The unit was based in Brest and along with D'Estrées, the squadron was strengthened by the addition of several other cruisers over the following days, including the armored cruisers Kléber and Desaix, the protected cruisers Châteaurenault, Lavoisier, Friant, and Guichen, and several auxiliary cruisers. The ships then conducted a series of patrols in the English Channel in conjunction with a force of four British cruisers. On 25 August, many of the cruisers were detached for other purposes, and D'Estrées was reassigned to the Division de Syrie (Syrian Division) in the eastern Mediterranean.
On 31 January 1915, French naval forces in the region were reorganized as the 3e Escadre (3rd Squadron). In late April, fears that the Ottoman Empire was planning an attack on the Suez Canal prompted the French to send D'Estrées, the protected cruiser D'Entrecasteaux, and Jeanne d'Arc to Port Said to reinforce the warships supporting the land defenses of the canal. No attack materialized, and the ships were sent to bombard Ottoman positions along the coast to force them to disperse their units rather than make attacks on the Suez Canal. D'Estrées and Jeanne d'Arc shelled fuel depots at Alexandretta and Mersina and a factory in Jaffa in May. D'Estrées attacked the German consulate in Alexandretta on 13 May after the local Ottoman official refused to lower the German flag at the building. She destroyed a fuel depot the next day. They also bombarded the German consulates in the first two cities, along with the one in Haifa. D'Estrées, in pursuit of an Ottoman merchant vessel, stopped in Baniyas on 18 May after the steamer fled into the port. D'Estrées sent a boat into the harbor to search for the vessel, and after the French came under fire from Ottomans ashore, D'Estrées bombarded the town, destroying part of it.
Vice Admiral Louis Dartige du Fournet, the commander of the unit, declared a blockade of the coast on 25 June. D'Estrées was assigned to patrol duty in company with the armored cruiser Amiral Charner and the pre-dreadnought Jauréguiberry. D'Estrées assisted in the evacuation of some 4,000 Armenians, who were fleeing the Armenian genocide, from Antakya on 12 and 13 September. Amiral Charner, Guichen, Desaix, and the seaplane tenders Foudre and HMS Anne also contributed to the evacuation effort. As additional forces arrived in the region, the French reorganized the squadron into two divisions, D'Estrées being assigned to the 3rd Squadron on 8 November.
On 20 September 1916, the ship was transferred to the Red Sea, based at Jeddah. She remained there on patrol duty for the rest of the conflict; during this period, she also escorted convoys from French Madagascar to French Somaliland through May 1917. She also patrolled off the island of Socotra. In November, she joined the hunt for the German commerce raider SMS Wolf, which was known to be operating in the Indian Ocean. She was sent to the Maldives, where she learned that civilians there had seen Wolf and the captured Japanese steamer SS Hitachi Maru, but by that time, the German raider and her prize were gone. In 1918, D'Estrées was replaced by the cruiser Du Chayla.
D'Estrées in Shanghai in around 1920.
After the war, the ship was refitted at La Ciotat and was sent to French Indochina, where she remained for the rest of her active career. She was struck from the naval register in October 1922 and was sold to ship breakers two years later.
After the war, the ship was refitted at La Ciotat and was sent to French Indochina, where she remained for the rest of her active career. She was struck from the naval register in October 1922 and was sold to ship breakers two years later.