Republique Class Ironclad
Specifications
Class; Ironclad battleship
Displacement: 10,500 tons standard
Length: 112 meters, 107 meters between perpendiculars
Beam: 18meters
Draught: 7.8 meters
Propulsion: 12 coal fired boilers, 2 triple expansion expansions, 2 screws 8,000 ihp total
Speed: 16.5 knots maximum
Range: 8,000 kilometers at 10 knots, sails for prolonged cruising
Armament:
x4 420mm L/25 guns
x12 130mm guns
x 18 47mm/5 revolver guns
x4 400mm torpedo tubes
Protection:
480mm belt with 400mm backing
500mm citadel with 420mm backing
480mm frontally armored main turrets, 380mm rear armored main turrets
75mm armored deck
300mm conning towers
400mm funnel bases
Complement: 600
Overview
The Republique-class represents several of France's ideals, commitments, and goals. It is an expression of France's power and glory, equipped with mighty artillery and strong armor. France's ties to the sea and her detimination to control them are shown in his construction. And it is an enduring symbol of the French Republican system and its ideals of equality in its name. But above all else, it is a ship of war, intended to form the mainstay of France's battle fleets to destroy enemies of the Republic.
Origin
After the Franco-Prussian war there was a radical revision of France's foreign strategies. While initially France was determined to exact revenge on Germany, after personal meetings between the French and German leaders, a change in goals took place. Instead of seeking to gain revenge on Germany, France agreed to ally with them, alongside the return of the greatest division between the two; that of Alsace-Lorraine. As a result of this, with France's continental possessions secured, and an expectation of persistent economic growth once the still in place payments to Germany were to take place, France could look to the seas. It would not have to depend on Jeune Ecole, since it could expend far greater resources on its fleets. Therefor, France needed a new standard battleship which could be built in large numbers, to provide the core of the French Navy's strategic power projection. This would be the Republique-class.
General specifications
There were a number of design considerations for the Republique-class. For one, they were to see established a standard displacement for the Marine Nationale, of 10,000 standard tonnes. Their design was also primarily intended to provide one that could be built with relative ease; the understanding was that France needed to pursue for itself a Fleet capable of being built in numbers, relatively cheaply. This did limit some of its developments, although it was also expected that they would need to be in service for a while, which meant that they could not be excessively conservative.
The resulting dimensions of the ship reflected this and its mission. It has a total length of 112 meters, which is 107 meters between perpendiculars, along with a beam of 18 meters and a draught of 7.8 meters. The ship is built with a heavily armored central section, while the ends are substantially less armored. This is similar to the designs that were otherwise proposed of French central battery ironclads, but the Republique-class has a rather dramatically different armament. The ship was built entirely of steel, increasing protection and decreasing weight.
Armament
There were several objectives with the Republique. The simplest are of course that it simply needs to be effective against expected enemies, capable of providing appropriate offensive and defensive firepower. However, the armament desired also was wished to provide an effective armament into the future; the 1870 program of battleships intended to create ships that could last for a long time. While the laying down of no fewer than 6 ships for the program was a large amount, this was countered by the period of time over which they would be built. As a result of this, the Republique-class needed to be useful for the longest possible period of time, since it would be in service for an extended period of time from the start of the ships being laid down.
The main armament is at the center of the ship. This is composed of two dual turrets, which hold breech loading artillery of 420mm. Adoption of the caliber of 420mm is a very significant leap for the French navy, which previously has deployed weapons only of up to 274mm as far as rifles go in its fleets. Changes to such a massive weapon were intended to provide the capability for the ship to last for a very sustained period of time, since it would be able to penetrate enemy armor, and was based off of intelligence of the expected British and Italian ships that would be laid down shortly. These guns are mounted one after each other, along the length of the ship, rejecting a proposed en echelon mounting as being too complicated, and holding little advantage in end-over-end fire due to the problems of blast. They would also require a significantly wider ship, which would reduce speed. There is an ammuntion allotment of 50 rounds alloted to each gun, enough for slightly over four hours of firing.
Secondary armament is designed to provide additional capability to engage enemy ships, as well as ward off attack by smaller vessels. The secondary battery is composed of 130mm guns, which are well capable of engaging both enemy mediums ships effectively, but also enemy torpedo boats and the unarmored sections of enemy battleships. Each Republique-class was equipped with x12 120mm guns, equipped along the side of the ship. Furthermore, there is also an armament of 47mm revolver guns (composed of x5 47mm guns capable of sustaining a rate of fire of up to 60 RPM) In the ship's masts, there are mountings for them that enable fire to be rained down from above, destroying enemy top works. There are 18 such 47mm revolvers, mounted on the decks, masts, a galley which runs around the funnel, and military bridges. A final armament is composed of x4 torpedo tubes of 400mm, mounted in armored above water launchers.
A ram is also mounted on forward section of the ship, as after the Battle of Lissa ramming appears to be a potentially capable form of warfare.
Propulsion
While the French battline is not expected to be the most mobile, the Republique-class did have as an objective to increase the speed of future battle lines. With narrower lines, and continued increase in power available, and a lighter hull made from steel, an increase in speed would dramatically improve its capabilities. What was more, this was viewed as vital; the French fleet aimed to create a force of the line that would be able to engage enemies directly, but it also knew that it could all too well be outnumbered. Having ships faster than the enemy, to enable them to escape, was thus vital. Also, an increase in range was wanted.
Republiques use a twin screw arrangement. Power for this is provided by 2 triple expansion engines, which produce a total power of 8,000 ihp. 12 boilers supply this, and there is a single funnel which is located to the rear of the superstructure. The result of this is that the vessels can reach relatively high speeds, around 16.5 knots. This is in excess of most other navy's ironclads, and gives decisive tactical manuvering advantages to the vessel. The ship carries 750 tons of coal, which is sufficient for a range of 8,000 kilometers at 10 knots. However, its three masts are also sailing masts, which gives further enhanced range.
Protection
Vital to any battleship is its capability to resist enemy fire. The Republique-class must be capable of standing in the line of battle, and sustaining damage from opposing forces. Some concessions have been made in the Republique's design, but its core goals and design still remain essentially the same. A battleship must be able to resist the fire of the enemy, and the French navy rejects the idea of a lightly armored battleship.
This is however, not to say that France is blind to the changes that have happened in weaponry and defenses. France aims to achieve the same goals, it will not achieve them through the same way. It is the expectation that there will be significant difficulty in armor dealing with the threat of enemy weaponry without significant advances in the way which protection is applied. The Republique-class maintains the armored citadel concept from previous vessels, and expands on it dramatically. The central armored citadel forms a large, central armored raft containing the ship's vital systems, while the rest of the vessel (except for turrets, decks, conning towers, and sections like that) is mostly unarmored - instead relying on detonating enemy shels near the exterior of the ship where they will do little damage, and dampening the effect of the explosion by confining it. It is possible that some of the heaviest shells will pass through without bursting at all.
Armor levels as they do exist are however, quite impressive. The belt is a thickness of 480mm, backed with 400mm of teak backing, This covers the ship's vitals near the center, while the citadel is composed of protection of some 500mm of armor, itself backed by 420mm of teak. The citadel is designed to function as a heavily armored raft which can keep the ship floating in case of either unarmored section receiving heavy damage. Turrets have 480mm of frontal armor, combined 380mm of rear armor. The ship also has extremely thick internal bulkheads, generally of some 400mm. Combined with a 75mm thick some 2-3 meters under the waterline deck which separates different sections, keeps structural stability, and limits damage in underwater sections, along with the integration of coal bunkers into the structural protection scheme, the ship can take massive amounts of damage. The masts are also armored to provide protection to their top fighting stations and rangefinding equipment, although this of course had to be carefully analyzed in light of the extra top weight that this would provide. The superstructure has little protection, since it is the armored citadel that must be protected. However, the conning towers have some 300mm of protection, enough to protect them against all but enemy super heavy guns, while the funnel bases are some 400mm to provide for structural integrity.
Fire control and command
There are several key components which require protection on a battleship for it to be capable of engaging the enemy. These are its fire control (directors, sights, rangefinders, ect. ect.), command structures such as its command bridges, and conning towers, and its electric illumination devices (or 'search lights"). The Republique-class made the decision that conning tower should be the optimal command location, and that as possible unarmored bridges should be suppressed. It is commonly a feature of naval commanders that they will leave their conning towers to their bridges, not partaking in their safety. This must be reduced in occurance, as France expects that the battles it will fight at sea will be at short range, thus requiring officers to be under armor. Although this will reduce visibility, sacrifices will have to be made.
Rangefinder equipment will be mounted in military masts, and on the superstructure. They will be paired with director fire control, incorporating a careenometer (which indicates the proper time for firing) and an electric indicator to compute ship movements during firing. This should provide the world's first centralized, electric fire control system, which paired with the rangefinders whould significantly improve accuracy. The ship also has four electric search lights, with one on the mizzen top, one slightly forward of the funnel, and two on the upper deck superstructure.
The crew is composed of some 600 sailors, the larger number being necessitated by the sail capabilities, and larger number of secondary weapons as compared to other navies, although it is still significant less than preceeding French ships.
Class; Ironclad battleship
Displacement: 10,500 tons standard
Length: 112 meters, 107 meters between perpendiculars
Beam: 18meters
Draught: 7.8 meters
Propulsion: 12 coal fired boilers, 2 triple expansion expansions, 2 screws 8,000 ihp total
Speed: 16.5 knots maximum
Range: 8,000 kilometers at 10 knots, sails for prolonged cruising
Armament:
x4 420mm L/25 guns
x12 130mm guns
x 18 47mm/5 revolver guns
x4 400mm torpedo tubes
Protection:
480mm belt with 400mm backing
500mm citadel with 420mm backing
480mm frontally armored main turrets, 380mm rear armored main turrets
75mm armored deck
300mm conning towers
400mm funnel bases
Complement: 600
Overview
The Republique-class represents several of France's ideals, commitments, and goals. It is an expression of France's power and glory, equipped with mighty artillery and strong armor. France's ties to the sea and her detimination to control them are shown in his construction. And it is an enduring symbol of the French Republican system and its ideals of equality in its name. But above all else, it is a ship of war, intended to form the mainstay of France's battle fleets to destroy enemies of the Republic.
Origin
After the Franco-Prussian war there was a radical revision of France's foreign strategies. While initially France was determined to exact revenge on Germany, after personal meetings between the French and German leaders, a change in goals took place. Instead of seeking to gain revenge on Germany, France agreed to ally with them, alongside the return of the greatest division between the two; that of Alsace-Lorraine. As a result of this, with France's continental possessions secured, and an expectation of persistent economic growth once the still in place payments to Germany were to take place, France could look to the seas. It would not have to depend on Jeune Ecole, since it could expend far greater resources on its fleets. Therefor, France needed a new standard battleship which could be built in large numbers, to provide the core of the French Navy's strategic power projection. This would be the Republique-class.
General specifications
There were a number of design considerations for the Republique-class. For one, they were to see established a standard displacement for the Marine Nationale, of 10,000 standard tonnes. Their design was also primarily intended to provide one that could be built with relative ease; the understanding was that France needed to pursue for itself a Fleet capable of being built in numbers, relatively cheaply. This did limit some of its developments, although it was also expected that they would need to be in service for a while, which meant that they could not be excessively conservative.
The resulting dimensions of the ship reflected this and its mission. It has a total length of 112 meters, which is 107 meters between perpendiculars, along with a beam of 18 meters and a draught of 7.8 meters. The ship is built with a heavily armored central section, while the ends are substantially less armored. This is similar to the designs that were otherwise proposed of French central battery ironclads, but the Republique-class has a rather dramatically different armament. The ship was built entirely of steel, increasing protection and decreasing weight.
Armament
There were several objectives with the Republique. The simplest are of course that it simply needs to be effective against expected enemies, capable of providing appropriate offensive and defensive firepower. However, the armament desired also was wished to provide an effective armament into the future; the 1870 program of battleships intended to create ships that could last for a long time. While the laying down of no fewer than 6 ships for the program was a large amount, this was countered by the period of time over which they would be built. As a result of this, the Republique-class needed to be useful for the longest possible period of time, since it would be in service for an extended period of time from the start of the ships being laid down.
The main armament is at the center of the ship. This is composed of two dual turrets, which hold breech loading artillery of 420mm. Adoption of the caliber of 420mm is a very significant leap for the French navy, which previously has deployed weapons only of up to 274mm as far as rifles go in its fleets. Changes to such a massive weapon were intended to provide the capability for the ship to last for a very sustained period of time, since it would be able to penetrate enemy armor, and was based off of intelligence of the expected British and Italian ships that would be laid down shortly. These guns are mounted one after each other, along the length of the ship, rejecting a proposed en echelon mounting as being too complicated, and holding little advantage in end-over-end fire due to the problems of blast. They would also require a significantly wider ship, which would reduce speed. There is an ammuntion allotment of 50 rounds alloted to each gun, enough for slightly over four hours of firing.
Secondary armament is designed to provide additional capability to engage enemy ships, as well as ward off attack by smaller vessels. The secondary battery is composed of 130mm guns, which are well capable of engaging both enemy mediums ships effectively, but also enemy torpedo boats and the unarmored sections of enemy battleships. Each Republique-class was equipped with x12 120mm guns, equipped along the side of the ship. Furthermore, there is also an armament of 47mm revolver guns (composed of x5 47mm guns capable of sustaining a rate of fire of up to 60 RPM) In the ship's masts, there are mountings for them that enable fire to be rained down from above, destroying enemy top works. There are 18 such 47mm revolvers, mounted on the decks, masts, a galley which runs around the funnel, and military bridges. A final armament is composed of x4 torpedo tubes of 400mm, mounted in armored above water launchers.
A ram is also mounted on forward section of the ship, as after the Battle of Lissa ramming appears to be a potentially capable form of warfare.
Propulsion
While the French battline is not expected to be the most mobile, the Republique-class did have as an objective to increase the speed of future battle lines. With narrower lines, and continued increase in power available, and a lighter hull made from steel, an increase in speed would dramatically improve its capabilities. What was more, this was viewed as vital; the French fleet aimed to create a force of the line that would be able to engage enemies directly, but it also knew that it could all too well be outnumbered. Having ships faster than the enemy, to enable them to escape, was thus vital. Also, an increase in range was wanted.
Republiques use a twin screw arrangement. Power for this is provided by 2 triple expansion engines, which produce a total power of 8,000 ihp. 12 boilers supply this, and there is a single funnel which is located to the rear of the superstructure. The result of this is that the vessels can reach relatively high speeds, around 16.5 knots. This is in excess of most other navy's ironclads, and gives decisive tactical manuvering advantages to the vessel. The ship carries 750 tons of coal, which is sufficient for a range of 8,000 kilometers at 10 knots. However, its three masts are also sailing masts, which gives further enhanced range.
Protection
Vital to any battleship is its capability to resist enemy fire. The Republique-class must be capable of standing in the line of battle, and sustaining damage from opposing forces. Some concessions have been made in the Republique's design, but its core goals and design still remain essentially the same. A battleship must be able to resist the fire of the enemy, and the French navy rejects the idea of a lightly armored battleship.
This is however, not to say that France is blind to the changes that have happened in weaponry and defenses. France aims to achieve the same goals, it will not achieve them through the same way. It is the expectation that there will be significant difficulty in armor dealing with the threat of enemy weaponry without significant advances in the way which protection is applied. The Republique-class maintains the armored citadel concept from previous vessels, and expands on it dramatically. The central armored citadel forms a large, central armored raft containing the ship's vital systems, while the rest of the vessel (except for turrets, decks, conning towers, and sections like that) is mostly unarmored - instead relying on detonating enemy shels near the exterior of the ship where they will do little damage, and dampening the effect of the explosion by confining it. It is possible that some of the heaviest shells will pass through without bursting at all.
Armor levels as they do exist are however, quite impressive. The belt is a thickness of 480mm, backed with 400mm of teak backing, This covers the ship's vitals near the center, while the citadel is composed of protection of some 500mm of armor, itself backed by 420mm of teak. The citadel is designed to function as a heavily armored raft which can keep the ship floating in case of either unarmored section receiving heavy damage. Turrets have 480mm of frontal armor, combined 380mm of rear armor. The ship also has extremely thick internal bulkheads, generally of some 400mm. Combined with a 75mm thick some 2-3 meters under the waterline deck which separates different sections, keeps structural stability, and limits damage in underwater sections, along with the integration of coal bunkers into the structural protection scheme, the ship can take massive amounts of damage. The masts are also armored to provide protection to their top fighting stations and rangefinding equipment, although this of course had to be carefully analyzed in light of the extra top weight that this would provide. The superstructure has little protection, since it is the armored citadel that must be protected. However, the conning towers have some 300mm of protection, enough to protect them against all but enemy super heavy guns, while the funnel bases are some 400mm to provide for structural integrity.
Fire control and command
There are several key components which require protection on a battleship for it to be capable of engaging the enemy. These are its fire control (directors, sights, rangefinders, ect. ect.), command structures such as its command bridges, and conning towers, and its electric illumination devices (or 'search lights"). The Republique-class made the decision that conning tower should be the optimal command location, and that as possible unarmored bridges should be suppressed. It is commonly a feature of naval commanders that they will leave their conning towers to their bridges, not partaking in their safety. This must be reduced in occurance, as France expects that the battles it will fight at sea will be at short range, thus requiring officers to be under armor. Although this will reduce visibility, sacrifices will have to be made.
Rangefinder equipment will be mounted in military masts, and on the superstructure. They will be paired with director fire control, incorporating a careenometer (which indicates the proper time for firing) and an electric indicator to compute ship movements during firing. This should provide the world's first centralized, electric fire control system, which paired with the rangefinders whould significantly improve accuracy. The ship also has four electric search lights, with one on the mizzen top, one slightly forward of the funnel, and two on the upper deck superstructure.
The crew is composed of some 600 sailors, the larger number being necessitated by the sail capabilities, and larger number of secondary weapons as compared to other navies, although it is still significant less than preceeding French ships.
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