Marceau-class ironclad
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The ''Marceau'' class was group of three of
ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
barbette ship Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s of the French Navy built in the 1880s and early 1890s. The class comprised , the lead ship, , and ; a fourth member of the class, was substantially re-designed after defects in the original plans for the class could not be rectified. The ships were based on the earlier of barbette ships, but with smaller guns: four weapons compared to the three guns of the earlier vessels. They introduced the
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arrangement for their main battery that became common for many French capital ships built in the 1890s. Continuous tinkering with the ''Marceau'' design during their long construction produced badly flawed vessels that were superseded by more powerful pre-dreadnought battleships almost immediately after the French commissioned them in the early 1890s. The three ships served in the Mediterranean Squadron in the 1890s and saw little activity beyond routine training exercises. They were quickly reduced to the Reserve Division of the squadron as the French commissioned their own pre-dreadnoughts. All three ''Marceau''s were modernized in the early 1900s, receiving new water-tube boilers and having their top-heavy
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 ...
s and masts cut down, but they saw little activity afterward. ''Marceau'' and ''Magenta'' were used as training ships, while ''Neptune'' saw no further use. The latter two vessels were discarded between 1908 and 1913, while ''Marceau'' lingered on as a floating workshop. She was used in that role during World War I. She was sold to
ship breaker ''Ship Breaker'' is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a post-apocalyptic future. Human civilization is in decline for ecological reasons. The polar ice caps have melted and New Orleans is underwater. On the Gulf Coast nea ...
s in 1921, but was wrecked while being towed off
Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
and could not be re-floated.


Design

In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the French Navy embarked on a construction program to strengthen the fleet in 1872. By that time, the Italian (Royal Navy) had begun its own expansion program under the direction of Benedetto Brin, which included the construction of several very large ironclad warships of the and es, armed with 100-ton guns. The French initially viewed the ships as not worthy of concern, though by 1877, public pressure over the new Italian vessels prompted the Navy's (Board of Construction) to design a response, beginning with the
barbette ship Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
and following with six vessels carrying 100-ton guns of French design. The first of these were the two s, which carried their guns in open barbettes, all on the
centerline Center line, centre line or centerline may refer to: Sports * Center line, marked in red on an ice hockey rink * Centre line (football), a set of positions on an Australian rules football field * Centerline, a line that separates the service cou ...
, with one forward and two aft. Problems aboard other vessels with new 76-ton guns prompted the naval command to abandon the as-yet untested 100-ton weapons. A modified version of the 76-ton gun with a longer barrel and that had been adapted to use new
propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...
charges was developed; these changes gave it higher
muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...
, which allowed its shells to penetrate as well as the 100-ton gun had been expected to perform. The ''Amiral Baudin''s were too advanced in their construction to allow their design to be revised, but the other four vessels of the program, which became and the three ''Marceau''-class ironclads, had not yet begun building. Their design, which was prepared by the naval engineer Charles Ernest Huin, was radically altered from the ''Amiral Baudin'' arrangement to what would become the standard for future French capital ships for the next two decades. The large caliber guns were increased to four, one forward, one aft, and a wing mount on either side amidships to maximize end-on fire (which was emphasized by those who favored ramming attacks). By the time the design for these new ships was being finalized in early 1880, very large guns had fallen out of favor in the French Navy, so new 52-ton guns were substituted. The Navy had intended to build all four vessels to the same design, but after work began on the first vessel in June 1880, the shipyard realized that Huin's design, which had been modified dozens of times by different elements in the French naval command, was unworkable. The proposed
hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
dimensions were insufficient for the weight of armament to be carried. The shipyard engineers proposed widening the
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and increasing
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to correct the problem, but ''Hoche'' was too far advanced in construction to allow the necessary changes without breaking up the existing hull structure. The other three ships, which became the ''Marceau''s, had not been laid down and could be modified, and they retained the barbettes of the earlier ships.


Characteristics and machinery

The ships of the ''Marceau'' class were
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 ...
, with a beam of and a draft of . They displaced . As was customary for French capital ships of the era, their hull featured a pronounced tumblehome shape and incorporated a ram bow. ''Marceau'' was completed with a comparatively light
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 ...
, but ''Neptune'' and ''Magenta'' received very large structures that contributed to poor stability. The ships' hulls were divided into watertight compartments by thirteen transverse bulkheads and seventeen longitudinal bulkheads. A
double bottom A double hull is a ship Hull (watercraft), hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull ...
further improved the ships' resistance to damage below the waterline. The hulls were constructed with iron, but their superstructures were largely composed of steel to save weight. Steering was controlled from a small conning tower directly aft of the forward main battery gun. ''Marceau'' was fitted with a pair of pole masts equipped with
fighting top The top on a traditional square rigged ship, is the platform at the upper end of each (lower) mast. This is not the masthead "crow's nest" of the popular imagination – above the mainmast (for example) is the main-topmast, main-topgallant-mast a ...
s that carried some of her light guns and spotted for her main battery. ''Magenta'' had a heavy
military mast __NOTOC__ M ...
in place of her forward pole mast, and both of ''Neptune''s masts were of the heavy variety. Their crews ranged from 643 to 651 officers and enlisted men. ''Marceau''s propulsion machinery consisted of a pair of compound steam engines that each drove a screw propeller, while ''Magenta'' and ''Neptune'' had four such engines driving a pair of shafts. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning
fire-tube boiler A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating t ...
s aboard ''Marceau'' and ''Magenta'', but ''Neptune'' was fitted with twelve of the boilers. In the early 1900s, the ships were modernized with sixteen
Niclausse boiler A Field-tube boiler (also known as a bayonet tube) is a form of water-tube boiler where the water tubes are single-ended. The tubes are closed at one end, and they contain a concentric inner tube. Flow is thus separated into the colder inner flow ...
s, which were water-tube models. All three ships' boilers were ducted into a single funnel just aft of 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 ...
. Their engines were rated to produce for a top speed of . Coal storage amounted to .


Armament and armor

Their main armament consisted of four Modèle 1881 or Mle 1884, 28-
caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
(cal.) guns mounted in individual barbette mounts. One was forward and one aft, both on the centerline, and two were amidships in wing mounts. ''Marceau'' received two of each model of the guns, while ''Neptune'' carried four Mle 1884 guns and ''Magenta'' mounted four of the Mle 1881 weapons. Both versions fired high-explosive shells filled with melinite with a muzzle velocity of . The main guns were supported by a secondary battery of sixteen 30-cal. Mle 1884 guns, all carried in individual pivot mounts in an unarmored gun battery in the hull, eight guns per
broadside Broadside or broadsides may refer to: Naval * Broadside (naval), terminology for the side of a ship, the battery of cannon on one side of a warship, or their near simultaneous fire on naval warfare Printing and literature * Broadside (comic ...
. They fired high-explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of . For defense against torpedo boats, the ships carried an extensive battery of light guns, though the numbers vary between sources. Gardiner reports a range of three to six guns, nine to eighteen 3-pounder guns, eight to twelve 1-pounder five-barrel Hotchkiss revolving cannon; naval historian Eric Gille gives four to seven 65 mm guns, nine to twelve 47 mm guns, and eight 37 mm guns; naval historian Paul Silverstone says six 65 mm guns and twelve 47 mm guns. There is similar disagreement over the torpedo armament, with Gardiner providing three to five
torpedo tubes 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 ...
, Gille reporting five to six tubes, and Silverstone stating five tubes. According to the contemporary '' The Naval Annual'', the ships were equipped with four tubes, two on each broadside. The ships were protected with a combination of
mild steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...
and
compound armor Compound armour was a type of armour used on warships in the 1880s, developed in response to the emergence of armor-piercing shells and the continual need for reliable protection with the increasing size in naval ordnance. Compound armour was a no ...
that varied between each member of the class. Their
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extended for the entire length of the hull and was approximately wide; of the belt was above the waterline. The armor belt was backed by a layer of teak that was used to help contain the effects of a shell hit. It was at the upper edge in the central portion, where it protected the ships' ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces, tapering to at the bottom edge. Toward the bow, the belt was reduced to at the top edge and at the bottom, while the stern section received slightly thicker protection, at and 254 mm, respectively. ''Marceau'' and ''Neptune'' had compound armor belts, while ''Magenta''s was steel. An armor deck that was of wrought iron atop a layer of of steel was attached to the upper edge of the belt. Above the belt, the ships had a cofferdam that was filled with cellulose forward; this structure was intended to limit flooding in the event of damage above the waterline. The barbettes for the main battery were thick and the supporting tubes that connected them to their magazines were ; ''Marceau''s barbettes were steel while the other two ships had compound armor. According to a contemporary British report, the magazines were not directly protected and instead relied on the side and horizontal armor for protection. The guns themselves were covered by thick
gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...
s, which were intended to protect their crews from light weapons and small arms fire. Their forward conning tower was thick.


Construction

The ships of the class took around a decade to complete, far longer than should have been the case. Construction of the vessels was hampered by an inefficient system in France that lacked a centralized command structure that instead relied on separate construction and materiel organizations that shared responsibilities. Additionally, the French Navy continued to build large numbers of ships slowly, which was not a sustainable practice in a period of rapid developments in naval technology. As a result, ad hoc changes were made to ships while under construction, which further delayed their completion as outdated features had to be removed, more advanced equipment developed and installed, all the while modifying the ships' design to ensure they retained stability and did not become overloaded. The problems with French administration were compounded with changes in leadership that brought major shifts in construction priorities. Admiral Théophile Aube, who was the Minister of Marine in 1886–1887, was a staunch advocate of the so-called and opposed new battleship construction in favor of cheaper torpedo boats. He halted work on the ships during his tenure, which further delayed their completion. According to the historian Theodore Ropp, "the constant tinkering with the designs...proved to be little short of disastrous", noting the dangerous instability (which afflicted ''Magenta'' in particular), their overloaded condition that largely submerged their armor belts, and their towering superstructures that rendered them large targets. Worse still, they took so long to complete that by the time they entered service, the first pre-dreadnought battleships of the had been completed, which far surpassed the ''Marceau''s in combat effectiveness.


Service history

After entering service, ''Marceau'' initially went on a voyage to Russia with several other vessels to mark the signing of the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1891. She then joined the Mediterranean Squadron, France's front-line fleet unit. She was joined there by the other two ships in 1893 after they were commissioned. The ships had relatively uneventful careers, and over the rest of the decade, the three ships were primarily occupied with annual training maneuvers. In 1897, ''Marceau'' and ''Neptune'' helped to evaluate a new
fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...
. ''Magenta'' was involved in tests with the new
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
in 1898, where the submarine scored two hits with practice torpedoes. All three vessels were reduced to training ships in 1899, as a number of new pre-dreadnought battleships had been built, taking their place as front-line warships. The ''Marceau''s were thereafter assigned to the Reserve Division of the Mediterranean Squadron for torpedo and gunnery training. All three ships were modernized with new boilers in the early 1900s, including reductions in their top-heavy superstructures and heavy masts and installation of water-tube boilers. Regardless, they saw limited use after returning to service. ''Marceau'' and ''Magenta'' resumed training duties in 1903, though ''Neptune'' saw no further use. During parliamentary debates in 1908, the waste of funds that had been spent modernizing ''Neptune'' was highlighted, and she was struck 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 ...
either that year, or in 1913. ''Magenta'' was also struck in 1910, and ''Marceau'' became a floating workshop to support torpedo boats and submarines after the start of World War I in August 1914. She was sold to
ship breaker ''Ship Breaker'' is a 2010 young adult novel by Paolo Bacigalupi set in a post-apocalyptic future. Human civilization is in decline for ecological reasons. The polar ice caps have melted and New Orleans is underwater. On the Gulf Coast nea ...
s in 1921, but while under tow from
Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...
to Toulon, she
ran aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...
in a storm and could not be pulled free; her wreck remained visible until the 1930s.


Footnotes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{French ironclads Battleship classes Ship classes of the French Navy