.jpg) Gaulois
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Gaulois |
| Namesake | Gauls |
| Ordered | 22 January 1895 |
| Builder | Arsenal de Brest |
| Laid down | 6 January 1896 |
| Launched | 6 October 1896 |
| Completed | 15 January 1899 |
| Fate | Sunk by UB-47, 27 December 1916 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Charlemagne-class battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 117.7 m (386 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 20.26 m (66 ft 6 in) |
| Draught | 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 3 × shafts, 3 × triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Range | 3,776 nautical miles (6,990 km; 4,350 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armour | |
Gaulois was one of three Charlemagne-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in the mid-1890s. Completed in 1899, she spent most of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron (Escadre de la Méditerranée). The ship accidentally rammed two other French warships early in her career, although neither was seriously damaged, nor was Gaulois.
Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Gaulois escorted troop convoys from French North Africa to France for a month and a half. She was ordered to the Dardanelles in November 1914 to guard against a sortie into the Mediterranean by the ex-German battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim. In 1915, Gaulois joined British ships in bombarding Ottoman fortifications. She was badly damaged during one such bombardment in March and had to beach herself to avoid sinking. She was refloated and sent to Toulon for permanent repairs. Gaulois returned to the Dardanelles and covered the Allied evacuation in January 1916. She was en route to the Dardanelles after a refit in France when she was torpedoed and sunk on 27 December by a German submarine; four crewmen were lost.