French ironclad Marceau

Marceau was an ironclad turret ship built for the French Navy during the 1880s, the lead ship of her class. She served in the Mediterranean Squadron until 1900, when she was rebuilt and subsequently placed in reserve. She returned to service in 1906 as a torpedo training ship. During World War I, she served in Malta and Corfu as a submarine tender. The old ironclad was sold for scrapping in 1920, and while being towed to Toulon, she ran aground in a gale off Bizerte and became stranded. The wreck remained visible there until the 1930s.

Marceau early in her career
History
France
Name: Marceau
Namesake: General François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers
Ordered: October 1880
Builder: Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, La Seyne-sur-Mer
Laid down: 28 November 1882
Launched: 24 May 1887
Completed: 14 March 1891
Commissioned: 18 April 1891
Out of service: 1 October 1920
Fate: Wrecked, 17 January 1922
General characteristics
Class and type: Marceau-class ironclad
Displacement: 10,558 long tons (10,727 t)
Length: 98.6 m (323 ft 6 in) lpp
Beam: 20.06 to 20.19 m (66 to 66 ft)
Draft: 8.23 to 8.43 m (27 ft 0 in to 27 ft 8 in)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 643–651
Armament:
Armor:

Design
Main article: Marceau-class ironclad
Line-drawing of Marceau in 1908

The Marceau class of ironclad barbette ships was initially intended to be similar to the Amiral Baudin class, but by the time work on the design was being completed in 1880, the very large guns used in the earlier vessels had fallen out of favor in the French Navy. Lighter guns allowed a fourth weapon to be added to the main battery, which were rearranged into a lozenge layout that would be used in most French capital ships built over the following ten years. The class was to have comprised four vessels, but the first unit, Hoche had to be redesigned with a reduced armament after construction began after it became apparent that the initial design was not feasible on the specified dimensions. Work on the remaining three vessels had not yet begun, so their design could be enlarged to accommodate the intended armament.[1][2] The design of the Marceau-class ships was revised repeatedly during construction, and by the time they were completed, they were seriously overweight, which submerged much of their belt armor and degraded their stability. These problems were common for French capital ships of the period.[3]

Marceau was 98.6 m (323 ft 6 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 20.06 to 20.19 m (66 to 66 ft) and a draft of 8.23 to 8.43 m (27 ft 0 in to 27 ft 8 in). She displaced 10,558 long tons (10,727 t). She was fitted with a pair of pole masts equipped with fighting tops that carried some of her light guns and spotted for her main battery. The crew included 643–651 officers and enlisted men. Her propulsion machinery consisted of a pair of compound steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers. Her engines were rated to produce 11,000 indicated horsepower (8,200 kW) for a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).[4]

Her main armament consisted of four 340 mm (13.4 in) Modèle 1881, 28-caliber guns mounted in individual barbette mounts, one forward and one aft, both on the centerline, and two amidships in wing mounts. These guns were supported by a secondary battery of sixteen 138 mm (5.4 in) guns, all carried in individual pivot mounts in an unarmored gun battery in the hull, eight guns per broadside.[4] For defense against torpedo boats, she carried an extensive battery of light guns, though the numbers vary between sources. Gardiner reports a range of three to six 65 mm (2.6 in) guns, nine to eighteen 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder guns, eight to twelve 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder five-barrel Hotchkiss revolving cannon, and three to five 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes in deck-mounted launchers; naval historian Eric Gille gives four to seven 65 mm guns, nine to twelve 47 mm guns, and eight 37 mm guns; naval historian Paul Silverstone says six 65 mm guns and twelve 47 mm guns. There is similar disagreement over the torpedo armament, with Gardiner providing three to five 380 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes, Gille reporting five to six tubes, and Silverstone stating five tubes.[4][5][6]

The ship was protected with a combination of mild steel and compound armor; her belt was 229 to 457 mm (9 to 18 in) thick and extended for the entire length of the hull. Horizontal protection consisted of an armor deck that was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. The barbettes for the main battery were 406 mm (16 in) thick and the supporting tubes that connected them to their magazines were 203 to 229 mm (8 to 9 in). The guns themselves were protected by 64 mm (2.5 in) gun shields. Her conning tower was 120 to 150 mm (4.7 to 6 in) thick.[4]

Service history

Construction – 1896
Illustration of Marceau as originally built

Marceau was ordered in October 1880 and her contract was awarded on 27 December 1880, but she was not laid down until 27 January 1882 at the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in La Seyne-sur-Mer.[7][8] Work proceeded slowly, and she was not launched until 24 May 1887.[9] This was a result of the influence of Admiral Théophile Aube, who was the Minister of Marine in 1886–1887; Aube was a staunch advocate of the so-called Jeune École and opposed new battleship construction. Fitting out work was completed much more quickly, however, and she was commissioned into the French fleet on 14 March 1891.[7]

After her commissioning, she joined a French fleet that visited Kronstadt and was inspected by Czar Alexander III of Russia. On the return voyage, the fleet stopped in Spithead, where Queen Victoria reviewed the ships. This turned out to be the only time Marceau operated in the Atlantic; after returning to France, she was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron, where she remained for the duration of her career.[10] She was joined there by both of her sister ships in 1893; at that time, the unit also included the ironclads Amiral Baudin, Formidable, Amiral Duperré, Courbet, Hoche, and Dévastation.[11] She participated in the fleet maneuvers that year as part of the 3rd Division, in company with her sister Neptune and Dévastation, the latter serving as the divisional flagship. The maneuvers included an initial period of exercises from 1 to 10 July and then larger-scale maneuvers from 17 to 28 July.[12]

In 1895, Marceau, Courbet, Amiral Baudin, and Formidable all nearly ran aground off Hyères; Marceau and three tugs were used to tow Amiral Baudin back to port.[13] During the 1895 maneuvers, which began on 1 July, Neptune and the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron conducted a training cruise and practice shooting while the Reserve Squadron mobilized its ships. The main period of exercises saw the fleet divided into three units and Marceau was assigned to the second unit, tasked with operating with the first unit to attack the defending third fleet in Ajaccio. The maneuvers concluded on 27 July.[14] The following year, the Mediterranean Squadron consisted of Marceau, her two sisters, the two Amiral Baudin-class ships, Courbet, Dévastation, the ironclad Redoutable and the new pre-dreadnought battleship Brennus.[15] That year, she served in the 1st Division of the squadron. She participated in the fleet maneuvers that lasted from 17 to 30 July, during which Marceau served as part of the French fleet that attempted to defeat simulated attacks on the French coast.[16]

1897–1921

By 1897, additional pre-dreadnoughts began to enter service, including Charles Martel and Jauréguiberry. They joined the three Marceau, Brennus, Amiral Baudin, and Redoutable in the Mediterranean Squadron.[17] During the 1897 fleet gunnery trials, which saw the first use of a new system of centralized fire control in the French fleet, Marceau, Neptune, and Brennus all achieved more than 25 percent hits at ranges of between 3,000 yd (2,700 m) and 4,000 yd (3,700 m).[18] She remained in service with the Mediterranean Squadron in 1898.[19] The French fleet was reorganized in 1899, and the three Marceau-class ships were organized as a separate division attached to the Mediterranean Squadron for torpedo and gunnery training purposes. The unit was commanded by Rear Admiral Godin. In the 1890s, the French began rebuilding older ironclads to prolong their useful lives, and modernizations for the three Marceaus were authorized that year.[20] Marceau and her two sisters were assigned to the 1899 fleet maneuvers, which lasted from 5 to 25 July; during the exercises, Marceau was sent to the port of Bonifacio, Corsica, to demonstrate the suitability of the harbor for a squadron of ironclads.[21]

Marceau remained nominally assigned to the Reserve Division in early 1900, but she lay at Toulon and did not see activity with the rest of the unit.[22] On 30 August 1900, Marceau returned to La Seyne for a major reconstruction.[13] Her heavy military masts were cut down, her engines were modernized,[23] and her boilers were replaced with sixteen Niclausse boilers.[4] Another 138.6 mm gun was installed in the bow under the forecastle. The work was completed in May 1902, and Marceau underwent a series of sea trials for the remainder of the year.[13] She did not return to active service with the fleet, however, and was thereafter used as a training ship based in Toulon.[24] In 1906, she was converted into a training ship for torpedo operators in Toulon.[13]

After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Marceau was converted into a floating workshop to support torpedo boats and submarines. She was initially based in Malta, but was later moved to Corfu and then to Bizerte in 1918.[13] She was stricken from the naval register on 1 October 1920,[25] and sold to a shipbreaking firm based in Toulon in 1921. While she was being towed to Toulon, a storm caused her to run aground off Bizerte. She remained visible there until the 1930s.[13]

Footnotes
  1. Ropp, pp. 96–101.
  2. Jordan & Caresse, p. 18.
  3. Ropp, pp. 220–221.
  4. Gardiner, p. 292.
  5. Gille, pp. 66, 69.
  6. Silverstone, p. 75.
  7. Feron, p. 71.
  8. Brassey 1890, p. 114.
  9. Brassey 1888, p. 331.
  10. Feron, pp. 71–72.
  11. Brassey 1893, p. 70.
  12. Thursfield 1894, pp. 72–77.
  13. Feron, p. 72.
  14. Gleig, pp. 195–197.
  15. Weyl 1896, p. 94.
  16. Thursfield 1897, pp. 164–167.
  17. Brassey 1897, p. 57.
  18. Ropp, pp. 300–301.
  19. Brassey 1898, p. 57.
  20. Brassey & Leyland, pp. 33, 40.
  21. Leyland 1899, pp. 210–212.
  22. Leyland 1900, p. 64.
  23. Gille, p. 66.
  24. Brassey 1903, p. 57.
  25. Silverstone, p. 105.

References
  • Brassey, Thomas, ed. (1888). "Hoche and Marceau". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 331. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas, ed. (1890). "Chapter XI: Shipbuilding.—Foreign Programmes". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 114–141. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1893). "Chapter IV: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 66–73. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1897). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 56–77. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1898). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 56–66. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. (1903). "Chapter III: Relative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 57–68. OCLC 496786828.
  • Brassey, Thomas A. & Leyland, John (1899). "Chapter II: Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 32–69. OCLC 496786828.
  • Caruana, Joseph; Freivogel, Zvonimir; Rehnfeldt, Bjoren; Roche, Jean Pierre & Smith, Warren (2010). "Question 22/46: French Submarine Depot Ship Tourville". Warship International. XLVII (3): 202–204. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Feron, Luc (1985). "French Battleship Marceau". Warship International. Toledo: International Naval Research Organization. XXII (1): 68–78. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
  • Gille, Eric (1999). Cent ans de cuirassés français. Nantes: Marines. ISBN 978-2-909675-50-3.
  • Gleig, Charles (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter XII: French Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 195–207. OCLC 496786828.
  • Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
  • Leyland, John (1899). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter IX: Foreign Naval Manoeuvres". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 210–218. OCLC 496786828.
  • Leyland, John (1900). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter III: Comparative Strength". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 63–70. OCLC 496786828.
  • Ropp, Theodore (1987). Roberts, Stephen S. (ed.). The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy, 1871–1904. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-141-6.
  • Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-88254-979-8.
  • Thursfield, J. R. (1894). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Foreign Maneouvres: I—France". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 71–102. OCLC 496786828.
  • Thursfield, J. R. (1897). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Naval Maneouvres in 1896". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 140–188. OCLC 496786828.
  • Weyl, E. (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter IV: The French Navy". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 73–101. OCLC 496786828.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.