The Gloire-class ships were designed as enlarged and improved versions of the preceding by the naval architectEmile Bertin. The 1896 Naval Programme had authorized five armored cruisers, three of which became the Gueydons and the remaining pair the first Gloires. The other three ships of the class were among those authorized by the 1898 Naval Programme. The ships measured overall, with a beam of and a draft of. They displaced. Their crew numbered 25 officers and 590 enlisted men. The ships had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were rated at a total of, using steam provided by 24 Belleville water-tube boilers, except forCondé and Gloire, which had 28 Niclausse boilers. They had a designed speed of. They carried up to of coal and could steam for at a speed of.
The main battery of the Gloire class consisted of two quick-firing Modèle 1893–1896 guns mounted in single-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament comprised eight QF Modèle 1893–1896 guns and six QF Canon de Modèle de 1893 guns. Half of the 164.7 mm guns were in two singe-gun wing turrets on each broadside and all of the remaining guns were on single mounts in casemates in the hull. For defense against torpedo boats, they carried eighteen QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss| and four Hotchkiss guns, all of which were in single mounts. The sisters were also armed with five torpedo tubes, of which two were submerged and three above water. Two of these were on each broadside and the fifth tube was in the stern. All of the above-water tubes were on pivot mounts. The ships could carry between 10 and 14 naval mines. The Gloire class were the first French armored cruisers to have their waterline armored belt made from Harvey face-hardened armor plates. The belt was arrayed in two strakes, the lower of which had a maximum thickness of amidships and thinned to towards the bow and towards the stern. The upper strake of armor was thick amidships and reduced to 80 millimeters at the bow and at the stern. Because of manufacturing limitations, the end plates of both strakes were nickel steel. Behind the belt was a cofferdam, backed by a longitudinal watertight bulkhead. The main-gun turrets were protected by of Harvey armor, but their barbettes used plates of ordinary steel. The face and sides of the secondary turrets were thick and the plates protecting their barbettes were thick. The casemates protecting the 100-millimeter guns also had a thickness of 102 millimeters. The face and sides of the conning tower were 174 millimeters thick.
