French gunboat Zélée

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Career

Name:	Zélée
Fate:	Sunk during the Bombardment of Papeete, 22 September 1914
General characteristics
Class & type:	Surprise-class gunboat
Displacement:	646 tons
Length:	184 ft (56 m)
Beam:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Draught:	10.15 ft (3.09 m)
Propulsion:	2 Niclausse boilers Horizontal triple-expansion engine 900 hp (671 kW)
Speed:	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Armament:	• 2 × 3.9 in (99 mm) guns • 4 × 2.6 in (66 mm) guns • 4 × 37 mm (1 in) cannons
Armour:	Hardened steel-plated hull

Zélée was a Surprise class gunboat of the French Navy. Designed for use overseas, she was used largely in the French colonies in Indochina and the Pacific. Assigned to patrol the waters off Tahiti at the start of World War I, she was sunk before scuttling could be completed during the Bombardment of Papeete on 22 September 1914.

Design

Service

Present at Papeete during a devastating hurricane in February 1906, Zelee's commander was asked to assist with rescue efforts on the quarantine island of Motauta, but refused due to the high risk involved. Instead he lent the islands station master an open boat and left him with the task of finding men to man it.

At the outbreak of World War I, the Zelee was stationed at Papeete and took part in the first French naval action of the war. The German freighter Walkure had been loading a cargo of pearls at an island 50 miles from Tahiti. The Zelee approached her, raised the French flag, and demanded her surrender. The German commander had not yet learned of the state of war between Germany and France and at first thought the entire situation was a joke and invited the Zelee's commandeer aboard for dinner, instead the German freighter was taken as a prize and brought back to Tahiti.

References

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