WWI 1914 1918 - France Navy. A Warlike Messanger of peace. The Leon Gambetta whose visit to dover ended the rivarly between France and England. The Leon Gambetta was a French Navy armoured cruiser of 12,400 tons, the lead ship of the her class. The Gambettas were larger than previous armoured cruisers of the class, but they lacked the heavier firepower. They also were vulnerable to underwater attacks. On the night of 27 April 1915, when 15 miles south of Santa Maria di Leuca was torpedoed twice by Austro-Hungarian submarine U-5 under the command of Korvettenkapitan Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp. It sank in just 10 minutes. Out of 821 men on board, 684 including Rear Admiral Victor Baptistin Senes, commander of the 2nd Light Division, were lost along with all commissioned officers.