Charles Martel class battleships (1883)
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Charles Martel and Brennus |
| Preceded by: | Marceau class |
| Succeeded by: | Brennus laid down 1889 |
| Building: | 2 |
| Planned: | 2 |
| Completed: | 0 |
| Cancelled: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Displacement: | 10,600 tons Brennus 10,650 tons Charles Martel [1] |
| Length: | 344 ft 6 in (105.0 m) waterline [1] |
| Beam: | 64 ft 0 in (19.5 m) [1] |
| Draught: | 26 ft 9 in (8.2 m) [1] |
| Propulsion: | 5,500 ihp, triple screws [1] |
| Speed: | 15 knots (27.8 km/h) [1] |
| Armament: | 4 x 34 cm 8 x 14 cm 7 x machineguns [1] |
| Armour: | Belt: 17.25 in (438 mm) Barbettes: 17.25 in (438 mm) |
| Notes: | Ships in class include: Brennus and Charles Martel [1] |
Charles Martel and Brennus were two French battleships laid down in 1883-1884, but never completed. They were slightly enlarged Marceaus,[2] but with partial waterline belt armour. (The only other large French armoured battleships completed in the 19th Century to have a partial armoured belt were the Dévastation class and the Masséna.)[3]
- Charles Martel - laid down 1883.[4]
- Brennus - laid down 1884.
The two ships were suspended in 1886, as a result of a change in naval policy due to the apointment in January 1886 of Admiral Hyacinthe-Laurent-Theóphile Aube as Minster of Marine.[5] Aube was a leading member of the Jeune École school of thought. The new policy was that naval operations of the future would be directed not on battleships, but on the commerce of the enemy, using cruisers and torpedo boats (then high technology). The money that was spent on construction of battleships was applied to completing vessels in an advanced state of completion.[6][7]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Page 224, Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1886, pub Griffin, 1886.
- ^ Pages 139 and 222, "Ropp, Theodore, The Development of a Modern Navy, French Naval Policy 1871-1904, pub US Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-141-2<
- ^ Page 283, Chesnau, Roger and Kolesnik, Eugene (Ed.) Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1979. ISBN 0-83170-302-4
- ^ Page 438, "Ropp, Theodore, The Development of a Modern Navy, French Naval Policy 1871-1904.
Page 273, Beeler, John F. British Naval Policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli Era, 1866-1880, pub Stanford University, 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2981-6 This states that France laid down an ironclad in 1883, and another in 1884, and then no more battleships until the later Brennus was laid down in 1889. - ^ Pages 155 and 122, "Ropp, Theodore, The Development of a Modern Navy, French Naval Policy 1871-1904.
- ^ Page 86, Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1886,
- ^ "The Austrian Almanach für die K.K. Marine 1886, states (p. 128) that the construction of these two armour-clads has been discontinued, and that both are to be converted into transports."
Quoted in page 228, Brassey, Lord, The Naval Annual 1886,
