A large fast minelayer with several possible roles

At 5,300 tons standard and 6,214 tons fully loaded, Pluton was much larger than the earlier French minelayers. Her hull measured 152.5 metres long and 15.5 metres across the beam, with a 5.2-metre draft. Four boilers supplied two geared turbines rated at 57,000 shaft horsepower for a nominal 30-knot top speed. Her hull could carry about a thousand troops or support gunnery-training duties, in addition to a complement of more than five hundred. A stated cruising radius of 4,500 nautical miles at 14 knots promised useful reach, and the video later explains how auxiliary loads shaped that figure. The combination made her a flexible specialist rather than a conventional cruiser.