French battleship Brennus

Brennus was the first pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the late 19th century. She was laid down in January 1889, launched in October 1891, and completed in 1896. Her design was unique and departed from earlier ironclad battleship designs by introducing a number of innovations. These included a main battery of heavy guns mounted on the centerline and the first use of Belleville boilers. She formed the basis for several subsequent designs, beginning with Charles Martel.

Brennus spent the majority of her career in the Mediterranean Squadron, and she served as its flagship early in her career. In 1900, she accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer Framée. As newer battleships were commissioned into the fleet, Brennus was relegated to the Reserve Squadron in the early 1900s. By the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, her old age and poor condition prevented her from seeing action. She was ultimately stricken from the naval register in 1919 and sold for scrap three years later.

Design
An earlier vessel, also named Brennus, was laid down in 1884 and cancelled under the tenure of Admiral Théophile Aube. The vessel, along with a sister ship named Charles Martel, was a modified version of the ironclad battleships. After Aube's retirement, the plans for the ships were reworked entirely for the ships actually completed, though they are sometimes conflated with the earlier, cancelled vessels. This confusion may be a result of the same shipyard working on both of the ships named Brennus, along with use of material assembled for the first vessel to build the second. The two pairs of ships were, nevertheless, distinct vessels. The second Brennus was ordered in 1888.

Brennus 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. 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 pattern.

General characteristics and machinery


Brennus was 110.29 m long between perpendiculars, and had a beam of 20.4 m and a draft of 8.28 m. She had a displacement of 11190 t. As built, the ship was significantly overweight, and her draft was .38 m greater than intended, without a full load of ammunition. Most of her armored belt was submerged. Her superstructure had to be cut down and her mainmast, intended to be a fighting mast, had to be replaced with a lighter pole mast. Unlike most battleships of the period, she was built without a ram bow. Brennus had a crew of 673 officers and enlisted men.

Brennus had two vertical triple expansion engines each driving a single screw, with steam supplied by thirty-two Belleville water-tube boilers. The decision to fit Brennus with water-tube boilers was made in 1887, and she was the first large ship to be equipped with them. Her propulsion system was rated at 13900 ihp, which allowed the ship to steam at a speed of 17.5 to 18 kn. As built, she could carry 600 MT of coal, though additional space allowed for up to 980 MT in total.

Armament and armor
Brennus's main armament consisted of three Canon de 340 mm/42 Modèle 1887 guns, two in a twin turret forward, and the third in a single turret aft. Her secondary armament consisted of ten Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893 guns, four of which were mounted in single turrets amidships; the other six were located directly underneath them in casemates. The ship also carried four 9-pounder quick-firing guns, fourteen 3-pounders, and eight 1-pounder guns, and six 1-pounder revolver cannons. Her armament suite was rounded out by four above-water 450 mm torpedo tubes, all of which were later removed.

The ship's armor was constructed with both steel and compound armor. The main belt was 460 mm thick amidships, and tapered down to 305 mm at the lower edge. On either end of the central citadel, the belt was reduced to 305 mm at the waterline and 250 mm on the lower edge; the belt extended for the entire length of the hull. Above the belt was 100 mm thick side armor. The main battery guns were protected with a maximum thickness of 460 mm of armor, and the secondary turrets had 100 mm thick sides. The main armored deck was 60 mm thick. The conning tower had 150 mm thick sides.

Service career


Brennus was laid down at the Lorient dockyard in January 1889 and launched on 17 October 1891. Fitting-out work was completed in 1896 and she was commissioned into the French Navy. In 1897, the French Navy issued a new doctrine for gunnery control. During gunnery training exercises to test the new system, Brennus and the ironclad battleships Neptune and Marceau got 26% hits at a range of 3000 to 4000 m. Their success prompted the Navy to make the method the standard for the fleet in February 1898.

In July and August 1900, the French fleet conducted maneuvers in the English Channel. At the time, Brennus was the flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron, under Vice Admiral Fournier. On 10 August off Cape St. Vincent, while returning from the maneuvers, she collided with the destroyer Framée. The destroyer quickly sank, and only fourteen men from her crew of 50 were rescued. By 1903, Brennus was transferred to the Reserve Squadron, along with three other battleships and three armored cruisers. There, she flew the flag of Rear Admiral Besson during the annual summer maneuvers in July–August 1903.

Brennus continued on in the Reserve Squadron through 1907, during which time she was again the flagship of Vice Admiral Fournier. Fournier was the commander in chief of the annual summer maneuvers, which began in late June and concluded on 4 August 1907. The following year, the Mediterranean Fleet was reorganized into three squadrons; Brennus again repeated her role as flagship, of the Third Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral Germinet. Due to her age and condition by the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Brennus was not mobilized and did not see action. Brennus was ultimately stricken from the naval register in 1919 and sold for scrapping in 1922.