Cassard was a protected cruiser built for the French Navy in the 1890s. The D'Assas-class cruisers were 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. The new cruisers were intended to serve with the main fleet and overseas in the French colonial empire. Cassard was armed with a main battery of six guns, was protected by an armor deck that was thick, and was capable of steaming at a top speed of .
Cassard entered service in 1898, joining the Mediterranean Squadron, where she served for the following several years. During this period, she was occupied primarily with routine training exercises. She had been reduced to the reserve fleet by 1905, though she was reactivated in 1908 for a deployment to French Morocco. At the start of World War I in 1914, she initially operated out of Morocco, patrolling for German U-boats. In September, she bombarded local villages in Morocco to suppress challenges to French colonial rule. The ship was later transferred to the western Mediterranean and Red Seas, along with a deployment to the Indian Ocean in 1917. After the war, Cassard was partially disarmed and converted into a gunnery training ship, though she was struck from the naval register in 1924, grounded for use as a target ship, and then sold for scrap in 1925.
Design
In response to a war scare with Italy in the late 1880s, the French Navy embarked on a major construction program in 1890 to counter the threat of the Italian fleet and that of Italy's ally Germany. The plan called for a total of seventy cruisers for use in home waters and overseas in the French colonial empire. The D'Assas class, which also included and , was ordered as part of the program. Their design was heavily drawn from that of the preceding s, being slightly longer and wider, which improved speed and stability.
Cassard was long overall, with a beam of and an average draft of . She displaced as designed. Her crew varied over the course of her career, and consisted of 370–392 officers and enlisted men. The ship's propulsion system consisted of a pair of triple-expansion steam engines driving two screw propellers. Steam was provided by twenty coal-burning Lagrafel d'Allest water-tube boilers that were ducted into three funnels. Her machinery was rated to produce for a top speed of . She had a cruising radius of at and at 20 knots.
The ship was armed with a main battery of six guns. They were placed in individual pivot mounts; one was on the forecastle, two were in sponsons abreast the forward conning tower, and the last was on the stern. These were supported by a secondary battery of four guns, which were carried in pivot mounts in the fore and aft conning towers, one on each side per tower. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried ten 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns, two 1-pounder guns, and three 37 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon. She was also armed with two torpedo tubes in her hull above the waterline. Armor protection consisted of a curved armor deck that was thick, along with plating on the conning tower. The main and secondary guns were fitted with thick gun shields.
Modifications
The ship lost her 37 mm revolving cannon in 1902. In 1917, Cassard had most of her guns removed for use elsewhere, leaving her with just two 164.7 mm guns. The following year, four M1877 guns were installed, and in 1919, a pair of guns that had been taken from Du Chayla were added. In 1921, by which time Cassard had been assigned to the gunnery school, she was refitted with a single 164.7 mm gun aft, one 138.6 mm gun forward, two 90 mm guns in the forward sponsons, two guns in the aft sponsons, and two 47 mm guns to provide a variety of guns with which to train the fleet's gunners.