French cruiser Amiral Charner

The Amiral Charner was an armoured cruiser of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

In 1896, she was sent to the Mediterranean to operate the station off Crete. From 1901, she operated in the Far East. In 1905, she was put in the reserve in Toulon.

At the outbreak of the First World War, she was sent to the defence of the Suez Canal. In December, in the context of the Noemvriana, she invaded Kastelorizo, along with FRENCH CRUISER Jeanne d'Arc.

On 8 February 1916, off Beirut, Amiral Charner was torpedoed by the Austro-Hungarian U-boat SM U-36 (in fact the German u-boat SMU U-21 (Germany)) and sank in only two minutes. Most of the crew went down with the ship; only quarter-master Cariou survived, rescued on 13 February after drifting on a raft with 13 comrades.