Factfile

• Bouvet was to be the last of five 1st class battleships with similar general characteristics but of independent design subsequently known as the ‘Fleet of Samples’ (Flotte d’échantillons).
• Like her half-sister Masséna (see the author’s article in Warship 2023) she would have her 305mm and 274.4mm main guns upgraded from Modèle 1887 to the new Mle 1893, which was of more advanced construction, and the four 65mm QF guns of the original three ships would be superseded by eight guns of the new 100mm calibre.
• The distinguished constructor Charles Huin (1836–1912), who had been responsible for the first ship, Charles Martel (see Warship 2020), was selected to design Bouvet, which would emerge from the building yards with a very different silhouette and internal layout to Masséna, built in parallel to a design by Louis de Bussy. Apart from the number, calibre and model of the main guns, the only major feature the two ships had in common was their three-shaft machinery, approved on 19 March 1892, which would set the pattern for subsequent French battleship construction prior to 1909.
• The order to build the ship at Lorient Naval Dockyard was signed on 8 April 1892 and the keel was duly laid on 16 January 1893. The number of working days was estimated at 1,700,000 and the cost of construction of the hull at 5,644,000 francs (equivalent at the time to £226,000 sterling).
• Certain characteristics would be modified during the studies for the battleship in order to save weight. The thickness of the belt would be reduced from 450mm to 400mm, the armour on the barbettes of the main turrets would be thinned by 10mm to 310mm, the conning tower would have smaller dimensions and the handling arrangements for the anchors would duplicate those of the earlier Brennus (see Warship 2019). Weight-saving measures extended even to the washing facilities for the crew: the number of washbasins was reduced from the original figure of 46 (for 130 men) to the 24 (for 127) on Brennus.
• On 9 January 1893, the Direction du Matériel proposed electrical power for the turrets, as in Jauréguiberry, but this was rejected three days later by the Direction de l’Artillerie, which insisted on the retention of the original hydraulic machinery for training.
• The weight of the hull, which was exclusively of steel, was 3,699 tonnes.
• The armoured belt, which was of a new toughened homogeneous steel developed by Schneider, was 400mm amidships, reducing to 300mm forward and 260mm aft, the plates being tapered below the waterline to 200mm amidships and 120mm fore and aft.
• The belt was 2 metres deep amidships, reducing to 1.64 metres at its after end, and was mounted on a teak backing with a maximum thickness of 200mm; the plates were ordered from Marrel Frères.
• The light upper belt (cuirasse mince) was of 80mm special steel and was secured directly to the shell plating: there was a single strake 1.2m high over the cofferdam amidships, and a double strake 2.55m high at the bow; the plates were ordered from the Ateliers et Forges de la Loire.
• The armoured deck was of 70mm ‘super soft’ steel secured to a double layer of 10mm mild steel; the plates were ordered from the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (later Penhoët) of Saint-Nazaire. Beneath it was a splinter deck of 30mm ‘boiler quality’ steel. The armoured coamings around the hatchways and funnel uptakes that penetrated the main deck were of 300mm special steel at the base, tapering to 200mm, and were
  0.5m high.
• The conning tower, from which the ship was fought under action conditions, had plates of special steel 320mm thick on the face and 300mm on the outer walls, and weighed 56.4 tonnes.
• The communications tube was protected by hoops of armour 200mm thick. The compass platform was located atop the conning tower
• The total weight of protection, including the turrets and barbettes (see below), was 4,241 tonnes.
• Steam for the the propulsion machinery in the first four ships of the series was generated by 24 Lagrafel & d’Allest large watertube boilers. However, for Bouvet the Navy opted for the new Belleville boiler, which was built by Delaunay Belleville & Compagnie and rated at 17kg/cm2; each had a single furnace. There were no fewer than 32 steam generators, distributed equally between two large spaces fore and aft. Each of these spaces was subdivided by a centreline bulkhead into two boiler rooms, each housing eight Belleville boilers disposed back to back.
• The boilers supplied steam for three vertical tripleexpansion (VTE) engines built by Indret.
• The engines were designed to deliver 14,000CV, but this was exceeded on trials (15,462CV). Bouvet achieved a maximum speed of 17.2 knots with natural draught and 18.2 knots with forced draught; 17.8 knots were sustained on a 4-hour trial.
• Coal bunkerage was 620 tonnes at normal load, giving a theoretical endurance of 2,660nm at 10 knots, and 800 tonnes at full load for 3,420nm at 10 knots.
• Pumps available in the event of flooding included four Thirion pumps rated at 1,000 tonnes per hour, five Thirions rated at 30t/h, a 30-tonne hand pump powered by four pistons, plus two small Le Testu pumps to empty the main drain.

Table 1: Hull & General Characteristics

Table 2: Armament

In Pictures

Bouvet moored off the coasts of Provence. (Author’s collection)

You can read more in Warship 2024