Over the 1880s and 1890s, the French Navy built a series of protected cruisers, thirty-three vessels in total. Protected cruisers were differentiated from other cruising warships by their relatively light sloped armor deck that provided a measure of protection against incoming shellfire, as opposed to armored cruisers that relied on heavy belt armor, or unprotected cruisers that lacked armor entirely. They were designed to fulfill a variety of roles, including fleet scouts, colonial cruisers, and commerce raiders. Arguments over the purpose of the French fleet during this period played a major role in the design of these ships; proponents of the Jeune École doctrine favored large cruisers capable of attacking enemy merchant shipping while traditionalist officers preferred vessels more suit