Bouvines-class coast defense ship

The ''Bouvines'' class consisted of a pair of ironclad coastal-defense ships built for the French Navy () in the 1890s, and . Thoroughly obsolete by World War I, the ships only played a minor role during the war. They were sold for scrap in 1920.

Design and description

In 1887 preliminary design work began on an armored coast-defence ship intended to serve as the centerpiece of a group of torpedo boats under the auspices of Admiral Théophile Aube, Minister of the Navy and Colonies, and an ardent exponent of the (Young School) of naval strategy that believed in the primacy of coastal defences and commerce raiding. The torpedo warfare role was eventually dropped and four coast-defence ironclads, the and the ''Bouvines'' classes, were ordered in 1889.

The ''Bouvines''-class ships were half-sisters to the ''Jemmapes'' class laid down at the same time. They were virtually identical except that the ''Bouvine''s were given a forecastle deck to improve seaworthiness and the main armament was lightened to compensate for the additional weight, as guns were installed rather than the 340 mm (13.4 in) guns of the ''Jemmapes'' class.Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 301

''Bouvines'' and ''Amiral Tréhouart'' were long at the waterline and long overall. They had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft. They were only slightly heavier than the ''Jemmapes'' class and displaced , only more than the other ships. ''Bouvines'' had a metacentric height of . Once in service they proved to roll badly so bilge keels were later fitted. Their crew numbered 15 officers and 318 ratings; service as a flagship added 5 more officers and 33 more ratings.Sturton, p. 177

The ''Bouvines''-class ships used two inclined horizontal triple-expansion steam engines built by Menpenti of Marseilles, one engine per shaft. ''Bouvines''s engines were powered by 16 d'Allest-Lagrafel water-tube boilers and had two funnels, but ''Amiral Tréhouart'' used the same number of Belleville boilers instead and had only one funnel. The engines produced a total of and gave a top speed of on trials. The ships carried a maximum of of coal which allowed them to steam for at a speed of .

Armament and armor

Like the ''Jemmapes'' class, the ''Bouvines''-class ships carried their main armament of two 45-caliber Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1887 guns in two single- gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. The guns fired projectiles at the rate of one round per minute at a muzzle velocity of approximately . The guns could be depressed to −4° and elevation to +10°.

The ships' secondary armament consisted of eight 53-caliber Canon de Modèle 1892 guns, four of which were mounted in individual casemates. The other four were carried on pivot mounts with gun shields on the shelter deck directly above the four casemated guns on the corners of the superstructure.de la Loge d'Ausson, p. 21 The guns fired shells at a muzzle velocity of .

Initially four 40-caliber Canon de 47 mm Modèle 1885 Hotchkiss guns were carried for defence from torpedo boats in the fighting top in the military mast, but this was later increased to eight, with the new guns on the superstructure. They fired a projectile at to a maximum range of . Initially ten Hotchkiss revolving cannon were positioned on the superstructure, but this was reduced to three when the additional 47 mm guns were added. Two torpedo tubes were mounted above the waterline, but they were removed in 1906.

The armor of the ''Bouvines''-class ships weighted . They had a complete waterline armor belt of steel that tapered from the maximum thickness of amidships to at the ship's ends. The belt's height was an average of , but increased to at the bow and to at the stern. The ships were intended to have of the belt showing above the waterline, but they were overweight as completed and only of the belt was above the waterline. The hull above the belt was completely unarmored. The maximum thickness of the armored deck was and it was joined to the top of the armor belt. The main turret armor was thick although the barbettes were only thick. The plates protecting the conning tower measured in thickness.Sturton, pp. 177–178

Ships

''Bouvines'' was authorized in the Supplementary Estimates of 1889 although ''Amiral Tréhouart'' had been authorized in the 1889 Ordinary Naval Estimates with the name of ''Tréhouart'', although she was renamed on 25 March 1895. ''Bouvines'' was ordered on 18 December 1889.

History

''Bouvines'' served as a flagship for the entirety of her active service where she served both in the ''Northern Squadron'' and ''Channel Flotilla'' in the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel as well as in the ''Mediterranean Squadron''. She was stricken on 1 July 1913 and was used by the Inspection Service at Cherbourg between 1914 and 1917. She was condemned in 1918 and sold for scrapping in 1920.

Little is known of ''Amiral Tréhouart''s career other than she served as a submarine tender during World War I.

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External links

nice picture gallery of the ships once you scroll about 2/3 down

{{French ironclads

Ships built in France
Coastal defense ships of the French Navy