Her metacentric height was calculated at 0.75 m (2.5 ft) during this incident. Her first stability trial was conducted on 17 June 1893 with all her guns traversed to starboard and her entire crew mustered on the same side Brennus took on a 28° list and the barrels of her 164.7 mm casemate guns were half-submerged. These problems were not fully solved by extensive reconstruction between 18, which contributed to a short career. The ship suffered from very poor stability, largely a result of her massive superstructure that placed a great deal of weight high in the ship. Brennus had a crew of 667 officers and enlisted men. Her hull was subdivided by 18 watertight bulkheads and she had a double bottom that extended over the full length of the hull except at the bow. The increased draft submerged most of the ship's armored belt, rendering it largely useless. Brennus proved to be grossly overweight during her initial sea trials in 1893, her draft was 38 cm (15 in) greater than it should have been, and this was not in a fully loaded condition. and displaced 11,370 metric tons (11,190 long tons) at deep load, after her reconstruction. General characteristics and machinery īrennus was 110.3 meters (361 ft 11 in) long between perpendiculars and 114.46 meters (375 ft 6 in) long overall. Brennus formed the basis for the subsequent group of five broadly similar battleships built to the same design specifications, begun with Charles Martel, though they reverted to the armament layout of the earlier Magentas which saw the main guns distributed in single turrets in a lozenge ( quadrilateral) pattern. Other changes included the adoption of a thin upper strake of armor to protect against quick-firing guns and the abandonment of the ram bow. The ship introduced several advances for the French fleet: new, 42- caliber guns arranged in turrets forward and aft of the superstructure, the first use of homogeneous steel armor, and the first Belleville boilers. īrennus was the first pre-dreadnought-style battleship built in the French Navy the previous Magenta-class ships were barbette ships, a type of ironclad battleship. The two ships were, nevertheless, distinct vessels. The fact that the same slipway was used to build both vessels, and parts of the original were reused in the latter vessel has caused some to conflate the vessels. The sections of hull that had been assembled on the slipway were dismantled, with the steel used elsewhere in the new ship. He re-designed Brennus to meet new requirements and the design was approved in 1889, allowing work to resume. Aube left the government in 1887 and his successor permitted work to resume the ship's designer, Charles Ernest Huin, lobbied to restart construction to keep the shipyards busy. Admiral Théophile Aube, who opposed battleship construction in favor of the cheaper torpedo boats and cruisers of the Jeune École, became the Naval Minister and cancelled both ships in January 1886 before much work had been done. The first of these was to have been named Brennus and work began in 1885. In 1880, the French Navy embarked on a naval construction program that included the ironclad battleships Hoche and the three-ship Marceau class the program called for two more vessels, which were to be laid down in 1882. Line-drawing of Brennus in her final configuration Her hulk was stricken from the naval register in 1919 and was ultimately scrapped three years later. She served as a source of spare parts and equipment for other ships during the war. The ship had been decommissioned before the First World War began in August 1914 and was disarmed in 1915. As newer battleships were commissioned into the fleet, Brennus was relegated to the Reserve Squadron in the early 1900s and then served as a training ship. In 1900, she accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer Framée. As completed in 1893, the ship was very top-heavy and had to be rebuilt over the next three years before she was ready to enter service.īrennus spent the majority of her service in the Mediterranean Squadron, and she served as its flagship early in her career. She formed the basis for several subsequent designs, beginning with Charles Martel. Completed in 1896, she was the sole member of her class, with a main battery of heavy guns mounted on the centerline and the first use of Belleville boilers.
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