French battleship Bouvet
French battleship Bouvet
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Masséna |
Succeeded by | Charlemagne class |
History | |
France | |
Name | Bouvet |
Namesake | François Joseph Bouvet |
Builder | Arsenal de Lorient |
Laid down | 16 January 1893 |
Launched | 27 April 1896 |
Commissioned | June 1898 |
Fate | Sunk during operations off the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | 12,200 t (12,007 long tons) |
Length | 122.4 m (401 ft 7 in) (loa) |
Beam | 21.4 m (70 ft 3 in) |
Draft | 8 m (26 ft 3 in) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
Range | 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km; 3,500 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
Armor |
|
Bouvet was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy that was built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Carnot, and Masséna, which were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. Bouvet was the last vessel of the group to be built, and her design was based on that of Charles Martel. Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), which made her one of the fastest battleships in the world at the time. Bouvet proved to be the most successful design of the five, and she was used as the basis for the subsequent Charlemagne class. Nevertheless, she suffered from design flaws that reduced her stability and contributed to her loss in 1915.
Bouvet spent the majority of her peacetime career in the Mediterranean Squadron conducting routine training exercises. This period was relatively uneventful, though she was involved in a collision with the battleship Gaulois in 1903 that saw both ships' captains relieved of command. In 1906, she assisted in the response to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Bouvet was withdrawn from front-line service in 1907 and thereafter used as part of the training fleet. The ship was the only vessel of her group of five half-sisters still in service at the outbreak of World War I in July 1914.
A significant portion of the
Design
In 1889, the
The basic design for the ships was based on the previous battleship
Bouvet proved to be the most successful of the five ships, and she was the only one still in active service at the outbreak of World War I. She also provided the basis for the next class of French battleships, the three Charlemagnes built in the mid-1890s. She and her half-sisters nevertheless were disappointments in service; Bouvet suffered from stability problems that ultimately contributed to her loss in 1915, and all five of the vessels compared poorly to their British counterparts, particularly their contemporaries of the Majestic class. 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.[5]
General characteristics and machinery
Bouvet was 117.9 meters (386 ft 10 in)
She had three vertical
Her propulsion system was rated at 14,000
The ship's electrical system consisted of four 400-ampere/80-volt dynamos that had a combined output of 128 kilowatts (172 hp). The dynamos were placed on the platform deck between the ducting for the boilers. Several smaller electric motors, rated at 29 kW (39 hp), powered the ship's ventilation system, and 9 kW (12 hp) motors drove the ash hoists for the boiler rooms. Bouvet was fitted with six searchlights: four on the battery deck (two amidships and one each forward and aft) and the remaining two on the masts.[7]
Armament
Bouvet's main armament consisted of two
Her secondary armament consisted of eight
As was customary for capital ships of the period, her armament suite was rounded out by four 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes, two of which were submerged in the ship's hull; both were located on the broadside close to the bow; they were aimed directly perpendicular to the centerline. The other two tubes were mounted above water, in trainable launchers placed amidships. The fire of these tubes was directed either by armored sights located abreast of the conning tower or unprotected sights on the battery deck. Bouvet carried a total of ten torpedoes of the Modèle 1892 Toulon/Fiume type; six were allocated to the submerged tubes, with the other four for the deck launchers. Bouvet also carried twenty Modèle 1892 naval mines that could be laid by the ship's pinnaces.[14]
Fire control
In the early 1890s, before Bouvet had begun construction, the French Navy introduced a
Armor
The ship's armor was constructed with nickel steel manufactured by several firms, including
The main battery guns (both the 305 mm and 274 mm guns) were protected with 370 mm (15 in) of cemented armor on the faces and sides, with 70 mm (2.8 in) thick roofs and 65 mm (2.6 in) thick floors. Both the floors and roofs were composed of mild steel. The turrets sat atop barbettes with 310 mm (12 in) thick sides. The 138 mm turrets had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides and faces, with 20 mm (0.79 in) roofs and 15 mm (0.59 in) floors. Gun shields that were 72 mm (2.8 in) thick protected the 100 mm guns. The conning tower had 320 mm (13 in) thick sides, a 20 mm thick roof, and a 25 mm (0.98 in) thick floor. The uptakes for the boilers were protected with coamings that were 300 mm thick.[16]
The ship's armor layout was not as effective as the designers had hoped; at the designed displacement, the belt armor was submerged with just a 3°
Service history
Bouvet was
Throughout the ship's peacetime career, she was occupied with routine training exercises that included gunnery training, combined maneuvers with torpedo boats and
Bouvet was assigned to the 2nd Battle Division of the Mediterranean Squadron, along with Jauréguiberry and the new battleship
The year 1904 saw the Mediterranean Squadron visit
Beginning in January 1909, with the commissioning of the six République and Liberté-class battleships, the Mediterranean Squadron was reorganized into two battle squadrons; Bouvet was at that time assigned to the 3rd Division, part of the 2nd Battle Squadron, still the flagship of Marin-Darbel. Her place was taken the following year by Saint Louis, and she remained out of service that year, with the exception of during the fleet maneuvers conducted in June, which she joined. In January 1911, she returned to service as the flagship of Contre-amiral Adam in the 2nd Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron. On 5 October, the fleet was again reorganized and her place in what was now the 3rd Battle Squadron was taken by Charles Martel. On 16 October 1912, Bouvet, Gaulois, Saint Louis, Carnot, Masséna, and Jauréguiberry were activated for training duties as the 3rd Squadron of the Mediterranean Squadron; in July 1913, they were joined by Charlemagne. The squadron was dissolved on 11 November, and Bouvet, Saint Louis, and Gaulois were assigned to the Division de complément ('Supplementary Division'). Training activities continued into 1914, and in March, the division joined the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron, which was now re-designated as the 1re Armée Navale ('First Naval Army') for gunnery training off Corsica. Additional maneuvers were conducted beginning on 13 May, during which the fleet visited Bizerte in French Tunisia, Algiers in French Algeria, and Ajaccio, Corsica.[25]
World War I
Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, France announced general
In November, she and the
Dardanelles campaign
By mid-February 1915, the French and British had assembled a fleet of four French and twelve British battleships, including Bouvet, to lead the assault on the Dardanelles. The plan called for Ottoman defenses to be neutralized to allow the fleet to enter the
On 18 March, the French and British squadrons made another attack on the straits, directed at the inner ring of fortresses that guarded the narrowest part of the Dardanelles. The larger British contingent, commanded by Rear Admiral
At around 13:45, de Robeck had ordered Guépratte to withdraw his ships so their British counterparts could take their turn against the Ottoman fortifications. Bouvet was at that time battling the fort at
Despite the sinking of Bouvet, the first such loss of the day, the British remained unaware of the minefield, thinking the explosion had been caused by a shell or torpedo. Subsequently, two British pre-dreadnoughts,
Wreck
In the early 2010s, Turkish marine archaeologists conducted sonar surveys of many of the wrecks from the Dardanelles campaign, including Bouvet. Research on the wrecks had long been difficult, as the area's status as a busy maritime artery and the strong current combine to make diving difficult. The survey of Bouvet, which lies upside down on the sea floor, revealed that a 305 mm shell from an Ottoman shore battery had struck the ship at the waterline amidships on the same side as she struck the mine, which contributed to the fatal flooding that caused her to rapidly capsize and sink.[39]
Footnotes
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Campbell, pp. 293–294.
- ^ Ropp, p. 223.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 25, 32.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 32, 38–40.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b c Jordan & Caresse, p. 38.
- ^ a b c d e f g Campbell, p. 294.
- ^ Cooper, p. 805.
- ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 33.
- ^ Cooper, p. 804.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 34–35.
- ^ Cooper, pp. 803–804.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 32, 38.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 35–37.
- ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 37–39.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 32.
- ^ Bruce & Cogar, p. 51.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 217–218.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 218–222.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 222–224.
- ^ Palmer, p. 171.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 223.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 229, 232.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 229, 252–254.
- ^ Corbett 1920, pp. 61, 371.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 261–262.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 103–105, 142–149.
- ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 261.
- ^ Caresse, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 158–161.
- ^ a b c Jordan & Caresse, p. 263.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 215–218.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 218–219.
- ^ a b Griffiths, p. 84.
- ^ Campbell, p. 295.
- ^ Corbett 1921, pp. 223–230.
- ^ Kolay & Karakas, pp. 19–22.
References
- Bruce, Anthony & Cogar, William (2014). Encyclopedia of Naval History. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-93534-4.
- Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Caresse, Philippe (2010). "The Drama of the Battleship Suffren". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2010. London: Conway. pp. 9–26. ISBN 978-1-84486-110-1.
- Cooper, George F., ed. (1898). "French Battleship "Bouvet"". Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute. XXIV (4): 803–805. ISSN 0041-798X.
- OCLC 174823980.
- Corbett, Julian Stafford (1921). Naval Operations: From the Battle of the Falklands to the Entry of Italy Into the War in May 1915. Vol. II. London: Longmans, Green & Co. OCLC 924170059.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Griffiths, William R. (2003). The Great War. Garden City Park: ISBN 978-0-7570-0158-1.
- Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
- Kolay, Selcuk & Karakas, Savas. "Echoes from the Deep: Wrecks of the Dardanelles Campaign" (PDF). The Underwater Cultural Heritage from World War I: Proceedings of the Scientific Conference on the Occasion of the Centenary of World War I. Bruges: UNESCO.
- Palmer, W., ed. (1908). "France". Hazell's Annual. London: Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ltd. OCLC 852774696.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
40°01′15″N 26°16′30″E / 40.02083°N 26.27500°E