French battleship Gaulois

Gaulois
History
France
NameGaulois
NamesakeGauls
Ordered22 January 1895
BuilderArsenal de Brest
Laid down6 January 1896
Launched6 October 1896
Completed15 January 1899
FateSunk by UB-47, 27 December 1916
General characteristics
Class and typeCharlemagne-class battleship
Displacement
Length117.7 m (386 ft 2 in)
Beam20.26 m (66 ft 6 in)
Draught8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
Installed power
Propulsion3 × shafts, 3 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range3,776 nautical miles (6,990 km; 4,350 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
Armament
Armour
  • Belt: 110–400 mm (4.3–15.7 in)
  • Decks: 40–70 mm (1.6–2.8 in)
  • Barbettes: 270 mm (10.6 in)
  • Turrets: 320 mm (12.6 in)

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.