''Carnot'' was a
pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prote ...
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
. She was laid down in July 1891, launched in July 1894, and completed in July 1897. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with
''Charles Martel'',
''Jauréguiberry'',
''Bouvet'', and
''Masséna'', which were ordered in response to the British . Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two guns and two guns in individual
turrets. She had a top speed of .
''Carnot'' had a fairly uneventful career. She spent the majority of her service life in the Northern and
Mediterranean Squadrons of the French fleet, where she participated in extensive, annual maneuvers. She was withdrawn from service by the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in August 1914, and so did not see action during the conflict. She remained in the French Navy's inventory until 1922, when she was stricken from the naval register and sold for scrap.
Design
![French battleship Brennus NH 82700](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/French_battleship_Brennus_NH_82700.jpg)
In 1889, the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
passed the
Naval Defence Act that resulted in the construction of the eight s; this major expansion of naval power led the French government to pass its reply, the ''Statut Naval'' (Naval Law) of 1890. The law called for a total of twenty-four "''cuirasses d'escadre''" (squadron battleships) and a host of other vessels, including
coastal defense battleships,
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s, and
torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
s. The first stage of the program was to be a group of four squadron battleships that were built to different designs but met the same basic characteristics, including armor, armament, and
displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
. The naval high command issued the basic requirements on 24 December 1889; displacement would not exceed , the primary armament was to consist of and guns, the
belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to ...
should be , and the ships should maintain a top speed of . The
secondary battery
A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...
was to be either or caliber, with as many guns fitted as space would allow.
The basic design for the ships was based on the previous battleship , but instead of mounting the main battery all on the centerline, the ships used the lozenge arrangement of the earlier vessel , which moved two of the main battery guns to single
turrets on the
wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
. Although the navy had stipulated that displacement could be up to 14,000 tons, political considerations, namely parliamentary objections to increases in naval expenditures, led the designers to limit displacement to around . Five naval architects submitted proposals to the competition; the design for ''Carnot'' was prepared by Victor Saglio, the ''Sous-directeur des constructions navales'' (Under-director of Naval Construction) at
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
. The navy accepted Saglio's proposal and ordered the ship on 10 September 1891. Though the program called for four ships to be built in the first year, five were ultimately ordered: ''Carnot'', , , , and .
She and her half-sisters were disappointments in service; they generally suffered from stability problems, and
Louis-Émile Bertin
Louis-Émile Bertin (23 March 1840 – 22 October 1924) was a French naval engineer, one of the foremost of his time, and a proponent of the "Jeune École" philosophy of using light, but powerfully armed warships instead of large battleships.
...
, the Director of Naval Construction in the late 1890s, referred to the ships as "chavirables" (prone to capsizing). All five of the vessels compared poorly to their British counterparts, particularly their contemporaries of the . The ships suffered from a lack of uniformity of equipment, which made them hard to maintain in service, and their mixed gun batteries comprising several calibers made gunnery in combat conditions difficult, since shell splashes were hard to differentiate. Many of the problems that plagued the ships in service were a result of the limitation on their displacement, particularly their stability and
seakeeping
Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea stat ...
.
General characteristics and machinery
''Carnot'' was
long between perpendiculars
Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...
, and had a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...
of . She had a displacement of . Her
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
gave her a high
freeboard
In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard
is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...
forward, but her
quarterdeck
The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...
was cut down to the main deck level aft. Her
hull was given a marked
tumblehome
Tumblehome is a term describing a hull which grows narrower above the waterline than its beam. The opposite of tumblehome is flare.
A small amount of tumblehome is normal in many naval architecture designs in order to allow any small projection ...
to give the 27 cm guns wide fields of fire. The ship was equipped with a heavy military foremast and a lighter pole mainmast.
Her
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
and other
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
was smaller compared to ''Charles Martel'' to reduce topweight, and she was equipped with lighter pole masts instead of the heavy fighting masts used on her half-sister. She nevertheless suffered from the same stability problems that plagued ''Charles Martel'' and many other French
capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet.
Strategic im ...
s of the period; attempts were made to reduce her topweight by cutting down the bridge and replacing her military mast with another pole mast, but these changes were not successful. In addition, ''Carnot'' was completed with a very large number of
porthole
A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicles ...
s in her hull, which were criticized for the reduction in the hull's watertight integrity they imposed. Later in the ship's career, many of the portholes were sealed to reduce the risk of flooding. ''Carnot'' had a crew of 647 officers and enlisted men.
''Carnot'' had two vertical, three-cylinder
triple expansion engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...
s manufactured by
Schneider-Creusot
Schneider et Cie, also known as Schneider-Creusot for its birthplace in the French town of Le Creusot, was a historic French iron and steel-mill company which became a major arms manufacturer. In the 1960s, it was taken over by the Belgian Empain ...
; each engine drove a single screw, with steam supplied by twenty-four
Lagrafel d'Allest water-tube boiler
A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...
s. The boilers were divided into four
boiler rooms and were ducted into two
funnels
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...
. Her propulsion system was rated at , which allowed the ship to steam at a speed of with
forced draft The difference between atmospheric pressure and the pressure existing in the furnace or flue gas passage of a boiler is termed as draft. Draft can also be referred to as the difference in pressure in the combustion chamber area which results in the ...
. As built, she could carry of coal, though additional space allowed for up to in total.
Armament and armor
''Carnot''s main armament consisted of two
Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1887 guns in two single-gun turrets, one each fore and aft. She also mounted two
Canon de 274 mm Modèle 1887 guns in two single-gun turrets, one amidships on each side,
sponson
Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing.
Watercraft
On watercraft, a spon ...
ed out over the tumblehome of the ship's sides. Her secondary armament consisted of eight
Canon de 138.6 mm Modèle 1888 guns, which were mounted in single turrets at the corners of the superstructure.
Light armament for defense against torpedo boats consisted of eight
Canon de 65 mm Modèle 1891
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
quick-firing guns on the shelter deck
amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
and forward and aft of the superstructure, twelve
47 mm Modèle 1885 quick-firing guns, and eight
37 mm revolving cannon. Her armament suite was rounded out by four
torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, two of which were submerged in the ship's hull, with the other two in trainable deck mounts.
The ship's armor was constructed with nickel steel that was manufactured by Schneider-Creusot. The main belt was thick amidships where it protected the ammunition
magazines
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
and propulsion machinery spaces, and tapered down to at the lower edge. On either end of the central citadel, the belt was reduced to at the waterline and 25 cm on the lower edge; the belt extended for the entire length of the hull. Above the belt was a thick
strake
On a vessel's hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of planking or plating which runs from the boat's stempost (at the bows) to the sternpost or transom (at the rear). The garboard strakes are the two immediately adjacent to the keel on ...
side armor that created a highly subdivided
cofferdam
A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...
to reduce the risk of flooding from battle damage. Coal storage bunkers were placed behind the upper side armor to increase its strength
The main battery guns were protected with of armor, and the secondary turrets had 10 cm thick sides. The main armored deck was thick, below which was a splinter deck that was thick, intended to catch shell fragments that penetrated the main deck. The
conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
had thick sides.
History
''Carnot'' was laid down in Toulon in 1891 and launched three years later on 12 July 1894, originally under the name ''Lazare-Carnot'' after
Lazare Carnot
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Education and early ...
.
Fitting-out
Fitting out, or outfitting, is the process in shipbuilding that follows the float-out/launching of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her o ...
work was completed another two years after that and the ship began
sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...
s in 1896. After completing those, the ship was
commissioned into the fleet in July 1897. By that time, her name had been shortened to ''Carnot'', to honor her original namesake as well as his grandson
Marie François Sadi Carnot
Marie François Sadi Carnot (; 11 August 1837 – 25 June 1894) was a French statesman, who served as the President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894.
Early life
Marie François Sadi Carnot was the son of the statesman Hippol ...
, who had been
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
until his assassination on 25 June 1894. Immediately on entering service, she and her half-sisters ''Charles Martel'' and ''Jauréguiberry'' were sent to join the
International Squadron that had been assembled beginning in February. The multinational force also included ships of the
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...
, the
Imperial German Navy
The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...
, the Italian ''
Regia Marina
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...
'', the
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...
, and the British Royal Navy, and it was sent to intervene in the 1897–1898 Greek uprising on Crete against rule by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
''Carnot'' spent the majority of her active career alternating between the Northern and
Mediterranean Squadrons. The newer battleships typically served in the Mediterranean, while older vessels were assigned to the Northern Squadron. In January 1900, she was assigned to the Northern Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Ménard, replacing .
In July, she and the other Northern Squadron ships met with the Mediterranean Squadron off the coast of Portugal and then steamed to
Quiberon Bay
Quiberon Bay (french: Baie de Quiberon) is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département.
Geography
The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to t ...
for joint training exercises. The maneuvers concluded with a
naval review
A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...
in
Cherbourg
Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
on 19 July for President
Émile Loubet
Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.
Trained in law, he became mayor of Montélimar, where he was note ...
. By 1902, ''Carnot'' had been transferred to the Reserve Squadron of the Mediterranean Squadron, along with the battleships ''Brennus'', ''Charles Martel'', and and the three
armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...
s , , and . The Reserve Squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral Besson, who flew his flag in ''Brennus''. The entire French fleet, including ''Carnot'', conducted extensive maneuvers in the Mediterranean in July and August of that year.
''Carnot'' and ''Bouvet'' were transferred back to the Northern Squadron in 1904. ''Carnot'' was still serving with the Northern Squadron in 1906, when she participated in the annual summer maneuvers in June–July that year. The following year, ''Carnot'' was back in the Mediterranean in the Second Squadron. She remained in the Second Squadron through 1911. On 5 January 1911, ''Carnot'' and rest of the Second Squadron was transferred to
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
*Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
*Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
**Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Brest, ...
. Later that year, as the s began to enter service, the ships of the Second Squadron became the new Third Squadron as the ''Danton''s displaced the ships of the First Squadron to the Second Squadron, which was transferred back to Toulon. During this period, on 4 September 1911, the three squadrons of the French fleet held a naval review off Toulon. On 11 January 1913, ''Carnot'' was reduced to reserve.
In early 1914, the French
Naval Minister Ernest Monis
Antoine Emmanuel Ernest Monis (; 23 May 1846 in Châteauneuf-sur-Charente – 25 May 1929 in Mondouzil) was a French politician of the Third Republic, deputy of Gironde from 1885 to 1889 and then senator of the same department from 1891 to 19 ...
decided to discard ''Carnot'', owing to the cost of maintaining the obsolete battleship, which was by then nearly twenty years old. By the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in August 1914, ''Carnot'' had been laid up in the port of Brest, along with ''Charles Martel''. Both ships were retained on the effective list, however, pending the completion of the new s. ''Carnot'' was ultimately stricken from the
naval register
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...
in 1922 and sold for scrapping that year.
Footnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carnot
1894 ships
Battleships of the French Navy
Ships built in France