French battleship Bouvet
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| French battleship Bouvet | |
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | François Joseph Bouvet |
| Builder: | Lorient, France, Charles Ernest Huin |
| Laid down: | 16 January 1893 |
| Launched: | 27 April 1896 |
| Commissioned: | June 1898 |
| Homeport: | Toulon |
| Fate: | Mined in Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign on 18 March 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 12,000 tonnes |
| Length: | 117.81 m |
| Beam: | 21.39 m |
| Draught: | 8.38 m |
| Propulsion: | 3 triple-expension steam engines, 14,000 hp |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement: | 666 to 710 |
| Armament: |
2 × 305 mm/45 Modèle 1893 guns |
| Armour: |
Belt: 400 mm |
The Bouvet was a French pre-dreadnought battleship, launched in 1896 and sunk by a mine in 1915 during World War I.
Bouvet, named for the maritime family of Bouvet de Lozier, the most famous being French Admiral François Joseph Bouvet, belonged to the Jauréguiberry quasi-class which comprised Bouvet, Jauréguiberry, Carnot, Charles Martel, and Masséna.[1]
Bouvet, along with her sister ships, was something of a throwback to earlier French ironclad designs, with a low displacement, a relatively high hull with an exaggerated tumblehome, cluttered and unprotected upperworks, and single guns in small turrets, with her main battery comprising two 12 inch and two 10.8 inch guns, the latter in sponsons. Despite her out-of-date features, Bouvet along with Masséna, pioneered triple-shaft propulsion for battleships, and they had face-hardened armour above the waterline, making them some of the most powerfully protected warships of their era.[1]
Loss off the Dardanelles
The Bouvet was part of the squadron contributed by the French to the Dardanelles Campaign. On 18 March 1915, the British commander, Rear Admiral John de Robeck, launched a concerted effort to overwhelm the Turkish forts defending the Dardanelles straits and Bouvet was one of the four French battleships making up the second line.
Bouvet sustained eight hits from Turkish artillery fire and the forward turret was disabled. When de Robeck ordered the French line to retire, Bouvet turned to starboard into Erin Keui Bay where a line of mines lay undetected. The battleship struck a mine below the starboard 274mm turret and suffered a massive explosion, probably of a magazine. Flooding was rapid since the ship lacked effective internal compartmentation (the detonation occurred in a very large machinery space that extended almost a third of the length of the vessel). The ship heeled very rapidly, since the hull was designed (like many French battleships designed by Huin) with a "tumblehome" form, meaning the sides sloped inwards; this meant that the hull was losing stability for every degree that it heeled over, which sped up the process of capsizing. Bouvet capsized and sank within two minutes, taking around 660 crew with her.
Despite the loss of the 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, the Ocean and Irresistible, were sunk and the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible, as well as the pre-dreadnoughts Suffren and Gaulois, were damaged by the same minefield.
Gaulois, also with a tumblehome hull form, was later repaired and fitted with large caissons at the sides to prevent the same kind of disaster that befell Bouvet. When Gaulois was torpedoed in 1916, the caissons kept the ship upright long enough for the majority of the crew to evacuate.
The disaster of Bouvet was a major factor in the decision to abandon a naval strategy to take Constantinople, and instead opt for the Gallipoli land campaign.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sandler, Stanley; Spencer C. Tucker (2004). Battleships: an illustrated history of their impact. ABC-CLIO. p. 81. ISBN 1851094105.
External links
Coordinates: 40°01′15″N 26°16′30″E / 40.02083°N 26.275°E
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