.gif)
French battleship Condorcet (1909)
Encyclopedia
Condorcet was a pre-dreadnought
battleship
of the French Navy
; the nature of her armament, which included an intermediate calibre between the main and anti-torpedo armament, has usually meant that, in common with , and the Japanese ships of the Aki class, she is regarded as a semi-dreadnought. She was a member of the of ships, which formed the backbone of the French Fleet until the first French dreadnoughts became operational in the early years of World War I
.
Jacques Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments while serving on the Condorcet.
-cemented armour at a range of 9,000 yards. The penetration figures were 14 inches at 6,000 yards and 18 inches at 3,000 yards. The arc of fire of each gun was 260 degrees. A total of 75 rounds per gun were carried.
The secondary armament, being the intermediate calibre weaponry which gave this class of ship semi-dreadnought status, was twelve Model 1902 9.4-inch (240 mm) 49.5 calibre guns disposed in six twin turrets, three on either broadside of the ship. These guns fired an armour-piercing shot weighing 375 pounds with a muzzle velocity of 2969 feet/second. Armour penetration was 4 inches at 9,000 yards, 9 inches at 6,000 yards and 14 inches at 3,000 yards. The arcs of fire of these guns were all about 140 degrees. One hundred rounds per gun were carried. As there was no provision for, or possibility of, firing across the deck, the secondary guns were limited to firing only on their own side of the ship. the total broadside possible for the ship to deliver was therefore from four 12-inch guns and six 9.4-inch.
Sixteen Model 1906 3-inch (75mm) 65-calibre guns were mounted singly in the superstructure at quarterdeck level. The weight of shot fired was twelve pounds, and the envisaged function of these guns was as a defence against torpedo-carrying small craft. Ten Model 1902 47 mm guns were carried for the same purpose.
As was customary in battleships of all nations of the period, torpedo tubes were fitted. There was one on each beam, designed to discharge below the waterline, equipped with torpedoes of 17.7 inch (450mm) calibre.
There were two armoured decks. The upper, at the level of the top of the upper belt, was 48mm thick, and the lower deck, situated below the belt, was 45mm.
Unlike the armour pattern to be found in later ships, Condorcet had no transverse bulkheads.
The main turrets were protected by 11.75 inch armour, and the secondary turrets by 8.75 inches. The main armament barbettes were 11 inches thick. The conning tower was 11.75 inches.
turbine. The turbines were fed steam produced in twenty-six Niclausse boilers, and the designed shaft horse power (SHP) was 22,500, the designed maximum speed being 19 knots (37.2 km/h). The range of this ship was 3370 nautical miles (6,241.2 km) at 10 knots (19.6 km/h), or 1750 nautical miles (3,241 km) at 18 knots (35.3 km/h). The fuel was coal only; a normal load carried was 925 tons; the maximum possible was 2010 tons.
. The other Mediterranean naval powers were Italy, which after a short period of neutrality became a French ally, and Austria-Hungary, a French opponent. These two powers approximately equalled each other in naval strength and thus cancelled each other out; and both remained almost inactive throughout the conflict except for actions by submarines and other small warships. Condorcet therefore saw no significant action. As the British Grand Fleet significantly overmatched the German High Seas Fleet
there was never a reason for the British Admiralty
to request participation by the French in the North Sea campaign, and no request was therefore ever made. Condorcet was modernised between 1922 and 1925, improved underwater protection being added. Her sister-ship Danton
had been lost to a torpedo, fired from U-64
, in the western Mediterranean during the war. She became a training ship in 1927, and was formally deleted from the naval strength in 1931. After a short time as a torpedo school depot ship she was finally decommissioned, stripped to a hulk, and used as a barrack-ship in Toulon. From 1944 she continued in service as a barrack-ship, only for the German forces then occupying France during the Second World War. She was sold to be broken up in December 1945
Pre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
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...
; the nature of her armament, which included an intermediate calibre between the main and anti-torpedo armament, has usually meant that, in common with , and the Japanese ships of the Aki class, she is regarded as a semi-dreadnought. She was a member of the of ships, which formed the backbone of the French Fleet until the first French dreadnoughts became operational in the early years of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Jacques Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments while serving on the Condorcet.
Origin
Condorcet was laid down on 23 August 1907, one of a class of six sister ships She was launched on 20 August 1909 and completed on 25 July 1911. Her design was a response to ongoing battleship development in other countries, particularly Great Britain, and reflected the increasingly widespread view that the standard battleship armament of only four big guns could no longer be considered adequate. The ships of this class were essentially equivalent in fighting power to semi-dreadnoughts of other nations, but in design concept were several years behind and also behind the and . These American ships were the first ships to be designed with a uniform big-gun armament, but followed Dreadnought into service. The length of time taken to arrive at a design for this class of ships, and the length of time taken in constructing them, meant that Condorcet and her sisters were obsolescent when they entered service.Armament
The main armament carried consisted of four Model 1906 12-inch (305mm) 45 calibre guns disposed in two twin turrets. The forward turret was situated on the forecastle deck, and the after turret was on the quarterdeck, one deck level below the fore-turret. The weight of each gun was 57 tons; the weight of an armour-piercing shot was 1,000 pounds. The muzzle velocity was 3,005 feet/second, and a shot would penetrate 11 inches of KruppKrupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
-cemented armour at a range of 9,000 yards. The penetration figures were 14 inches at 6,000 yards and 18 inches at 3,000 yards. The arc of fire of each gun was 260 degrees. A total of 75 rounds per gun were carried.
The secondary armament, being the intermediate calibre weaponry which gave this class of ship semi-dreadnought status, was twelve Model 1902 9.4-inch (240 mm) 49.5 calibre guns disposed in six twin turrets, three on either broadside of the ship. These guns fired an armour-piercing shot weighing 375 pounds with a muzzle velocity of 2969 feet/second. Armour penetration was 4 inches at 9,000 yards, 9 inches at 6,000 yards and 14 inches at 3,000 yards. The arcs of fire of these guns were all about 140 degrees. One hundred rounds per gun were carried. As there was no provision for, or possibility of, firing across the deck, the secondary guns were limited to firing only on their own side of the ship. the total broadside possible for the ship to deliver was therefore from four 12-inch guns and six 9.4-inch.
Sixteen Model 1906 3-inch (75mm) 65-calibre guns were mounted singly in the superstructure at quarterdeck level. The weight of shot fired was twelve pounds, and the envisaged function of these guns was as a defence against torpedo-carrying small craft. Ten Model 1902 47 mm guns were carried for the same purpose.
As was customary in battleships of all nations of the period, torpedo tubes were fitted. There was one on each beam, designed to discharge below the waterline, equipped with torpedoes of 17.7 inch (450mm) calibre.
Armour
The main armour belt extended from a point level with the conning tower to immediately aft of the after 12-inch barbette. It was ten inches thick and about six and a half feet wide, with some thirty inches being below the waterline at normal loading. From the ends of this belt armour of six inches thickness continued all the way to the stem, and aft as far as the rudder. An upper belt of six-inch armour ran, immediately above the main belt, from the level of the after end of the quarterdeck 12-inch barbette all the way to the stem. An additional belt of armour of two and a half inches in thickness ran above the upper belt from the forecastle 12-inch barbette to the stem. Lateral bulkheads nine inches thick tapering to six inches extended from the lower edge of the lower armoured deck to the bilge keels.There were two armoured decks. The upper, at the level of the top of the upper belt, was 48mm thick, and the lower deck, situated below the belt, was 45mm.
Unlike the armour pattern to be found in later ships, Condorcet had no transverse bulkheads.
The main turrets were protected by 11.75 inch armour, and the secondary turrets by 8.75 inches. The main armament barbettes were 11 inches thick. The conning tower was 11.75 inches.
Machinery
Condorcet and her sisters were the first large French warships to be turbine-driven. She had four shafts powered each by a ParsonsParsons Marine Steam Turbine Company
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...
turbine. The turbines were fed steam produced in twenty-six Niclausse boilers, and the designed shaft horse power (SHP) was 22,500, the designed maximum speed being 19 knots (37.2 km/h). The range of this ship was 3370 nautical miles (6,241.2 km) at 10 knots (19.6 km/h), or 1750 nautical miles (3,241 km) at 18 knots (35.3 km/h). The fuel was coal only; a normal load carried was 925 tons; the maximum possible was 2010 tons.
Career
The short range of this ship and her sisters meant that during the first world war she was restricted to operating in the Mediterranean SeaMediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. The other Mediterranean naval powers were Italy, which after a short period of neutrality became a French ally, and Austria-Hungary, a French opponent. These two powers approximately equalled each other in naval strength and thus cancelled each other out; and both remained almost inactive throughout the conflict except for actions by submarines and other small warships. Condorcet therefore saw no significant action. As the British Grand Fleet significantly overmatched the German High Seas Fleet
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet was the battle fleet of the German Empire and saw action during World War I. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet was renamed as the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was the architect of the fleet; he envisioned a force powerful enough to...
there was never a reason for the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
to request participation by the French in the North Sea campaign, and no request was therefore ever made. Condorcet was modernised between 1922 and 1925, improved underwater protection being added. Her sister-ship Danton
French battleship Danton (1909)
Danton was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy and the lead ship of her class. She was a technological leap in battleship development for the French Navy, as she was the first ship in the fleet with turbine engines...
had been lost to a torpedo, fired from U-64
SM U-64
U-64 was a Type U-63 class submarine in the Kaiserliche Marine that served during World War I. She was built in 1916 and served in the Mediterranean Sea....
, in the western Mediterranean during the war. She became a training ship in 1927, and was formally deleted from the naval strength in 1931. After a short time as a torpedo school depot ship she was finally decommissioned, stripped to a hulk, and used as a barrack-ship in Toulon. From 1944 she continued in service as a barrack-ship, only for the German forces then occupying France during the Second World War. She was sold to be broken up in December 1945