The Brennus was an ironclad battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

.

She was built after the Jeune École

Jeune Ecole

The Jeune École was a strategic naval concept developed during the 19th century. It advocated the use of small, powerfully equipped units to combat a larger battleship fleet, and commerce raiders capable of ending the trade of the rival nation...

 trend of thought fell out of favour. She pioneered the armoured masts fitted with electrical elevators to the tops which became a trademark of French battleships.

Construction

The decision to fit Brennus with water-tube boilers was made in 1887, and she was the first large ship so equipped. The new Brennus was ordered in 1888.

"The original vessel under the name of "Brennus" was laid down at L'Orient in 1885, but work on her and the sister ship the Charles Martel, was suspended at an early stage of construction. In the building of the Brennus, as much as possible of the material on hand for the original ship is to be utilised; she is to be built at the same yard on designs that allow for protection against melinite and other high explosive shell."

"As first completed in 1893 she was 38 cm (15 in) over designed draught without her ammunition on board, and was seriously deficient in initial stability, so that the superstructure had to be reduced and the military mainmast removed."

Design

Compared with the Brennus cancelled by Aube, the new ship was larger, faster and more heavily armed.

	old Brennus	new Brennus
Displacement	10,600 tons	11,190 tons
Length	344 in 6 in (105 m)	361 in 10 in (110.29 m)
Beam	64 in 0 in (19.51 m)	66 in 11 in (20.4 m)
Draught	26 in 9 in (8.15 m)	27 in 2 in (8.28 m) pp
Propulsion	5500 ihp natural draught, triple screws	13900 ihp forced draught, twin screws
Speed	15 knots (27.8 km/h)	17.5-18 knots (32.4-33.3 km/h)
Armament	4×34 cm, 8×14 cm, 7×machine guns	3×34 cm, 10×16.3 cm, 4×65 mm, 14×47 mm, 8×37 mm, 6×37 mm revolving cannon, 4×18-in torpedo tubes
Belt Armour	Incomplete Belt: 438 mm (17.25 in)	Complete Belt: 450-250 mm (18-10 in)
Armour protecting main armament	Barbettes: 438 mm (17.25 in)	Fore turret: 450 mm (18 in) Aft turret: 400 mm (16 in)
Armour protecting secondary armament	None	Turrets: 120 mm (5 in) Battery: 100 mm (4 in)

"In the Brennus, begun in 1889 and completed for trials in 1894, a five degree-heel completely submerged the armor [sic] belt and disabled the hydraulic mechanisms that worked the heavy guns. Her superstructures were drastically reduced before she was accepted into service. The overloading of French ships, their low belts, and their great superstructures that seemed designed to catch enemy shells made them as vulnerable as the British and Italian ships though for different reasons.

From 1900, the Brennus featured a figurehead

Figurehead

A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...

. It is now on display at the Musée national de la Marine

Musée national de la Marine

The Musée national de la Marine is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the XVIe arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort , Toulon and Saint-Tropez...

 in Paris.

Trials 1895-96

4 hours natural draught	1142 ihp	8.2 knots (16.1 km/h)	8 boilers
6 hours natural draught	6229 ihp	14.4 knots (28.2 km/h)	24 boilers
24 hours natural draught	8370 ihp	16 knots (31.4 km/h)	32 boilers
4 hours forced draught	13950 ihp	17.1 knots (33.5 km/h)	32 boilers

Mid-Life Update

"Brennus underwent a major rebuild in 1903, in which her superstructure was pared down significantly, her main mast was replaced with a steel pole mast and her upperworks were simplified to save weight and improve stability."

Service career

In 1897, Brennus, together with Neptune

French battleship Neptune (1887)

The Neptune was an ironclad battleship of the French Navy.She served in the Mediterranean squadron until 1898, when she was used as a school ship, and as a hulk from February 1908.She was eventually sunk as target off Cherbourg.-External links:*...

 and Marceau

French battleship Marceau (1887)

The Marceau was an ironclad battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.She served in the Mediterranean Squadron until 1900, when she was rebuilt. She returned to service in 1906 as a school ship for torpedo warfare....

 got 26% hits at a range of 3,000 to 4,000 metres (3,000-4,000 yards) in trials of a new method of fire control. In February 1898, this new method became the standard method for the French Navy.

In July 1900, she collided with the Framée, which sank with the loss of 48 lives.

From November 1908, she was used as a school ship to train mechanics, and from June 1914, for storage.