A beautiful view of République from off the starboard quarter as she steams majestically past. C'est magnifique, non? The play between the flared-out foredeck and the tumble-home of the remainder of the hull (reversing its contours right abreast of the bridge) is well shown here. This was a triple screw ship, with one funnel per boiler room unit. The arrangement of the funnels reveals the split layout below decks, with 2 engine rooms sandwiched between 2 blocks of boiler rooms, an arrangement that remained common in French capital ships through the dreadnought era. It was also adopted by the Italian navy and used in certain Russian ships. Note lack of torpedo nets booms.
Following decades of under-sized and bizarrely proportioned battleships with inherent stability problems, French designers analyzed their failures and made changes to address them. Under the energetic leadership of Chief Constructor Louis-Émile Bertin, the Marine Nationale threw out the ineffective doctrines that had led to those preposterous behemoths of the Nineties, so abundantly illustrated in our French navy site. In fact, Bertin -- Chief Constructor since 1895 -- had been highly critical of the designs he had been forced to build, mainly because of their gross unseaworthiness and secondarily because of the way their poor handling impacted all operations aboard, adversely affecting the overall efficiency of the fleet. Finally in 1901, the Admiralty gave Bertin the go-ahead to produce an exemplar of his own ideas. The first flowering of this effort was the République class: République and her identical twin Patrie.
With their clean lines, evident seaworthiness, and handsome proportions, these ships marked a quantum leap over previous French designs. Greatly decreased tumble-home improved stability and hull performance. Krupp cemented (KC) armor allowed more widespread protection without increased weight -- and as a masterful exegesis of Bertin's ideas on armoring, this armor scheme was widely admired at the time. An efficient triple-screw steam plant delivered a reliable 19 kts; and these ships introduced greatly improved watertight subdivision over what had been common in the French navy. The ships carried all the main guns and most of their secondary ones in twin turrets, increasing their firepower and rationalizing the gunnery layout.
With 14,600-ton bulk and 19-kt speed, the Républiques were fully competitive with the Majestics and their derivatives which had swelled the British fleet since 1895. The Républiques' wider hulls gave greater speed and stability; and they were designed with a considerable improvement in armored protection over earlier French battleships. Their strength was built around a burly armored carapace 11" thick at its maximum, with the greater height used to bring the armored decks up by one level (as in British capital ships of the period). The armor had a "web panel" system installed backing up the plate where it was mounted to the hull. As for the guns, the adoption of twin mountings doubled the ships' 12" firepower and eliminated the cumbersome system of mixed calibre main guns common in France's existing battle fleet. Instead of the one-offs and twins produced through 1901 for France, the MNF charged ahead with confidence, launching (with the succeeding Liberté class) six nearly identical ships. When the six turbine-driven Dantons came next, even before the advent of dreadnought-building in France, the fleet boasted 11 powerful pre-dreadnoughts (a dozen minus one, the lost Liberté). A quick glance at the Danton's armament layout shows her to be only an overgrown République, with 9.4" guns substituted for 7" and turbines in the engine room.
Armor and gunnery layout of the République class battleships shown in a schematic drawing. For an enlargement of the armor section above, click here.
Specifications for the République:
Dimensions: 439' x 79'7" x 27'6". Displacement: 14,600 tons. Armament: (4) 12"/45 cal., (18) 6.4"/45 (6x2, 6x1), (26) 3-pdr, and (2) 1-pdr guns; (5) 17.7" torpedo tubes (2 submerged and 3 above water). Height of guns above water: bow turret, 30 ft; after turret, 22.5 ft; secondary turrets, 29 ft. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type throughout. 11"/7" belt, 10"/5" lower deck side, 13" turrets, 9" turret bases, 6" small turrets and casemates, 13" conn, 2.75" deck. Double armored deck/splinter deck with cellular layer between. Fuel capacity: 900 tons normal; 1,850 tons maximum. Propulsion: 22 coal-fired boilers (Niclausse and Belleville), (3) inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 17,500 HP, shafted to triple screw. Maximum speed: 19 kts. Crew: 770. Initial cost: equivalent to £1.42M at 1903 valuation.
Metric Specifications:
Dimensions: 134m x 24.25m x 8.4m. Displacement: 14,600 tons. Armament: (4) 305 mm/45, (18) 163 mm/45 (6x2, 6x1), (26) 3-pdr, and (2) 1-pdr guns; (5) 450 mm torpedo tubes (2 submerged and 3 above water). Height of guns above water: bow turret, 9.14 m; after turret, 6.86 m; secondary turrets, 8.84 m. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type throughout. 280/178 mm belt, 254/127 mm upper belt, 330 mm turrets, 229 mm turret bases, 153 mm small turrets and casemates, 330 mm conn, 70 mm deck. Double armored deck/splinter deck with cellular layer between. Fuel capacity: 900 tons normal; 1,850 tons maximum. Propulsion: 22 coal-fired boilers (Niclausse and Belleville), (3) inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 17,500 HP, shafted to triple screw. Maximum speed: 19 kts. Crew: 770. Initial cost: equivalent to £1.42M at 1903 valuation.
To quote William Hovgaard, a contemporary Danish expert on warship construction:The system of protection of the République represented the realization of Chief Constructor Bertin's ideas on this subject. A belt of armor, 11 in. amidships and 7 in. at the ends, extended from 5 ft. below the water-line to 7½ ft. above, and enclosed a minutely subdivided cellular layer. A 2" armor deck, about level with the water-line, but sloping down with 2¾ in. thicknesses at the sides to meet the lower edge of the belt, formed the lower boundary of this layer, while the gun deck, by the French called "le pont principal,", of 2-1/8-in. thickness, formed the upper boundary. Together, these diffferent parts constituted an armored and well-subdivided raft extending from end to end of the ship in the waterline, well adapted to protect the buoyancy and stability against attack from artillery. Bertin's system is often referred to as the "armored cellular layer" ("tranche cellulaire cuirasée"). It was not unlike that of the Formidable and other English battleships from the end of the nineties, inasmuch as both types had a deep armor belt bounded by protective decks, but in the English vessels there was no cellular subdivision above the berth deck, and the side armor at the ends was very light. In spite of the similarity in the dispositon of the armor in the two navies, we find yet a trace of the old fundamental difference so conspicuous in the Inflexible and Amiral Duperré. The English preferred a high belt admidships and a low, very light belt or no side armor at all at the ends, while the French preferred a complete belt of uniform but somewhat smaller height and of fair thickness at the ends.
The Patrie shares the picture frame with the newest technological kick: a very early 20th century monoplane.
The République in a hand-tinted gravure postcard of the time. This one shows the shape of the hull well, despite the almost fauve red coloring applied to the tumble-home.
République charges past the viewer on some urgent errand or other, black coal-smoke uncoiling from her funnels.
Bow wedge shot of the Liberté, name ship of a four-ship battleship class; click here to enlarge. These four vessels were nearly identical to République and were named Justice, Liberté, Democratie, and Verité. Laid down in 1902-03, all were in commission by the end of 1908. The differences from the République class were in secondary armament: (10) 7.6" (six in single turrets on the weather deck amidships, four in casemates in the hull) in place of (18) 6.4" in the Republiques. All these ships featured prominent clinker screens atop their funnels, a detail also adopted by the 5-stack Dantons and Quinet class armored cruisers, commissioned 1909-11.
Liberté's specifications:
Dimensions: 439'x 79'7" x 27'6". Displacement: 14,850 tons. Armament: (4) 12", (10) 7.6"/45 guns (10 x 1), (8) 4", and (24) 3-pdr guns;; (5) 450 mm torpedo tubes (3 above water and 2 submerged). Height of guns above water: bow turret, 30 ft; after turret, 22.5 ft; secondary turrets, 29 ft. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type throughout. 11"/7" belt, 10"/5"/3" upper belt, 9" turret bases, 14" turrets, 13" conning tower, 2.75" deck. Double armored deck/splinter deck with cellular layer between. Bunkerage: 900 tons of coal normal; 1850 tons maximum. Propulsion: 22 coal-fired boilers (Niclausse and Belleville), (3) inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 20,500 HP, shafted to triple screw. Maximum speed: 19.4 kts. Tactical radius: 8000 nm @ 12kts. Crew: 740. Cost: 42 million gold francs.
Metric specs:
Dimensions: 134m x 24.25m x 8.4m. Displacement: 14,850 tons. Armament: (4) 305mm/50 (2x2), (10) 193 mm/45 (10 x 1), (8) 102 mm, and (24) 3-pdr guns; (5) 450 mm torpedo tubes (3 above water and 2 submerged). Height of guns above water: bow turret, 9.14 m; after turret, 6.86 m; secondary turrets, 8.84 m. Armor: Krupp Cemented (KC) type throughout. 280/178 mm belt, 254/127/80 mm upper belt, 330 mm turrets, 229 mm turret bases, 153 mm small turrets and casemates, 330 mm conn, 70 mm deck. Double armored deck/splinter deck with cellular layer between. Bunkerage: 900 tons of coal. Propulsion: 22 coal-fired boilers (Niclausse and Belleville), (3) inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines developing 20,500 HP, shafted to triple screw. Maximum speed: 19.4 kts. Tactical radius: 8000 nm @ 12kts. Crew: 740. Cost: 42 million gold francs.Photographers Taking Libertés
The Liberté on a visit to the United States soon after commissioning in 1908. The Liberté class had a virtually identical look to the Républiques, with the same curved cutwater, the same long gap in the funnels amidships. These ships were competitive with the British fleet of 10 years previous, but already obsolescent when they appeared two years after the Dreadnought's debut.
A quarter view of the Justice shows the arrangement of the stern, with a small stepped-down quarterdeck almost exclusively devoted to the after 12" turret. This shot also shows the docking bridge, mizzen, and cutaways in the after hull allowing near-axial fire for the casemate-mounted 7.6" guns. These ships were cruiserlike, with their very long hulls and tall unprotected sides. Click here for an enlarged view. For an overhead view, click here.
The Democratie seen in a postcard with a different style of colourisation. This effort by A. Bougault -- the Toulon-based dean of French postcard photographers -- gives a creditable overall view of the ship on trials, with reasonably believable coloring and nautical atmosphere.
.A sign of changing times: traditional naval rivals, England and France had formed an uneasy alliance against the German threat by the time the Libertés were building. As a mark of the Entente Cordiale, here is the entire Liberté class moored in the Grand Harbour while paying a courtesy visit to Malta, 1910. Click here for an enlarged panoramic view
Liberté's magazines explode accidentally on Sept. 25, 1911, destroying the 3-year-old ship and showering her neighbors in Toulon Harbor (including République) with twisted, smoldering debris. Click here for complete info on the disaster.
The French version of the stiff upper lip: Justice steaming stolidly off into the late-afternoon sunlight. With the exception of the ill-starred name ship, all the Libertés served in the Great War, primarily in the eastern Mediterranean, Gallipoli and Otranto operations, and later the western intervention against the Bolsheviks in the Russian civil war. All three Libertés, and the prototype République and Patrie as well, survived the chances of war only to be committed to the wrecker's torch. The Patrie survived the longest, finally hauling down her pennant for the last time in 1928.
It has been said that a sailor's life consists of long stretches of boredom interspersed with moments of pure terror. Especially in peacetime, the boredom far outweighs the terror, but there are always redeeming moments when the magnificence of Nature and the satisfaction of a complex, dangerous job well done combine to evoke a deep feeling of satisfaction.
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