Charles Martel-class ironclad

Class overview
NameCharles Martel-class ironclad
Preceded byMarceau class
Succeeded byBrennus
Planned2
Completed0
Cancelled2
General characteristics
TypeBarbette ship
Displacement
  • 10,650 long tons (10,820 t) (Charles Martel)
  • 10,600 long tons (10,800 t) (Brennus
Length105 m (344 ft 6 in) lwl
Beam19.5 m (64 ft)
Draft8.99 m (29 ft 6 in)
Installed power5,500 ihp (4,100 kW)
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Armament
  • 4 × 340 mm (13.4 in) guns
  • 8 × 140 mm (5.5 in) guns
  • 7 × auto-cannon
Armor

The Charles Martel class was a planned class of ironclad barbette ships of the French Navy. The class comprised two ships, Charles Martel and Brennus, and represented an incremental improvement over the preceding Marceau class, being larger, but carrying the same main battery of four 340 mm (13.4 in) guns in single mounts. Details of the ships' construction are unclear and contradictory, with various sources reporting that both ships were laid down, or that only Brennus was begun; neither ship was launched before they were cancelled in 1884 or 1886. Some sources indicate that Brennus was redesigned and completed as France's first pre-dreadnought battleship, Brennus, but most other historians dispute the idea.