At deep load, they had a draught of 7.4 metres (24 ft 3 in) forward and 8.4 metres (27 ft 7 in) aft. The Charlemagne-class battleships were 117.7 metres (386 ft 2 in) long overall and had a beam of 20.3 metres (66 ft 7 in). Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1896 She was not sold until 1933, although she had been listed for disposal in 1931. Saint Louis briefly became a training ship in 1919–1920 and was then converted to serve as an accommodation hulk in 1920. Charlemagne was decommissioned later in 1917 and sold for scrap in 1923. The two surviving ships were placed in reserve during 1917. Saint Louis and Charlemagne were transferred to the squadron assigned to prevent any interference by the Greeks with Allied operations on the Salonica front in 1916 and Gaulois was en route to join them when she was sunk by a German submarine later that year. After repairs she returned to the Dardanelles and rejoined her sisters, providing fire support during the Gallipoli Campaign until the Allies evacuated their troops. Gaulois was badly damaged by a Turkish shell during one of these bombardments and had to beach herself to avoid sinking. Charlemagne and Gaulois joined British ships in bombarding Turkish fortifications in early 1915 while Saint Louis was briefly assigned to bombard Turkish positions in Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula. All three ships were ordered to the Dardanelles in November 1914 to guard against a sortie into the Mediterranean by the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. Saint Louis was usually a fleet flagship during her career and Charlemagne twice participated in the occupation of the port of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos-then owned by the Ottoman Empire-once as part of a French expedition and another as part of an international squadron.ĭuring World War I, they were initially used to escort Allied troop convoys in the Mediterranean. They had oddly eventful peacetime careers as they were involved in four accidental collisions between them, one of which sank a French submarine with all hands. The ships spent most of their careers assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron ( Escadre de la Méditerranée). The Charlemagne class consisted of three pre-dreadnought battleships built for the French Navy in the 1890s. 3 shafts, 3 triple-expansion steam enginesĤ,200 miles (3,650 nmi) at 10 knots (19 km/h 12 mph)
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