French ironclad Hoche
 Hoche in her 1890 configuration, as first completed | |
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Lazare Hoche |
| Ordered: | 3 August 1880 |
| Builder: | Lorient |
| Launched: | 29 September 1886 |
| Completed: | 1890 |
| Decommissioned: | April 1908 |
| Fate: | Sunk as target in 1913 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Derivative of the Amiral Baudin class |
| Displacement: | 12,150 tonnes |
| Length: | 98 metres |
| Beam: | 21.2 metres |
| Draught: | 7.9 metres |
| Propulsion: | 9,700 shp |
| Speed: | 16 knots |
| Complement: | 650 |
| Armament: |
2 × 1 340mm/28 Modèle 1881 guns 2 × 1 274mm/28 Modèle 1881 guns 18 × 1 138mm/45 Modèle 1888 guns 5 × 450 mm torpedo tubes |
| Armour: |
Belt: 460 mm |
The Hoche was an early battleship of the French Navy. She used the 340mm/28 Modèle 1881 gun as her main armament, like the Marceau class which followed. The Hoche was completed with a heavy but unarmoured superstructure that resulted in her being top heavy.[1] This was later lightened.[1]
In 1892, off Marseilles, Hoche collided with the steamer Maréchal Canrobert which sank with the loss of 107 lives.
In a refit lasting from September 1894 to April 1895, the eighteen 138mm guns were replaced by twelve of a newer model, which were faster-firing, and the aft armored mast was replaced with a pole mast.[2] From 1899 to 1902, a major refit replaced the engines and boilers, replacing the single large stack with two smaller side-by-side stacks, and removed large portions of the superstructure.[3]
The Hoche was decommissioned and placed in reserve in April 1908, and disarmed on January 1, 1910.[2] She was sunk as practice target by the Jauréguiberry and the Pothuau on 2 December 1913.
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Regan, Geoffrey (2001). Geoffrey Regan's Book of Naval Blunders. André Deutsch. pp. 43–44. ISBN 0-233-99978-7.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Backer, Steve. "Hoche".
- ↑ "French Barbette Ship Marceau (1881/1891)".
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoche (ship, 1886). |
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