French battleship Charles Martel

A postcard of Charles Martel underway before 1914
Class overview
Preceded by	Brennus
Succeeded by	Carnot
History
France
Name	Charles Martel
Namesake	Charles Martel
Ordered	10 September 1890
Builder	Arsenal de Brest
Laid down	1 August 1891
Launched	29 August 1893
Commissioned	20 February 1897
Decommissioned	1 April 1914
Reclassified	As a barracks ship, 1 April 1914
Stricken	30 October 1919
Fate	Sold for scrap, 20 December 1920
General characteristics (as completed)
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	11,839 t (11,652 long tons) (normal) 12,145 t (11,953 long tons) (full load)
Length	121.59 m (398 ft 11 in) (o/a)
Beam	21.71 m (71 ft 3 in)
Draft	8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
Installed power	24 water-tube boilers 13,070 PS (9,610 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	2,218 nmi (4,108 km; 2,552 mi) at 13.81 knots (25.58 km/h; 15.89 mph)
Complement	651; 751 as a flagship
Armament	2 × single 305 mm (12 in) guns 2 × single 274 mm (10.8 in) guns 8 × single 138 mm (5.4 in) guns 4 × single 65 mm (2.6 in) guns 16 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 31 to 45 cm (12.2 to 17.7 in) Turrets: 37 cm (14.6 in) Barbettes: 32 cm (13 in) Conning tower: 23 cm (9.1 in) Deck: 7–10 cm (2.8–3.9 in)

Charles Martel was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the 1890s. Completed in 1897, she was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships ordered as part of the French response to a major British naval construction program. The five ships were built to the same basic design parameters, though the individual architects were allowed to deviate from each other in other details. Like her half-sisters—Carnot, Jauréguiberry, Bouvet, and Masséna—she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns. The ship had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).

Charles Martel spent her active career in the Escadre de la Méditerranée (Mediterranean Squadron) of the French fleet, first in the active squadron, and later in the Escadre de réserve (Reserve Squadron). She regularly participated in fleet maneuvers, and in the 1901 exercises, the submarine Gustave Zédé hit her with a training torpedo. Charles Martel spent just five years in the active squadron, having been surpassed by more modern battleships during a period of rapid developments in naval technology. She spent the years 1902–1914 mostly in reserve, and the navy decommissioned the vessel in early 1914, hulking her and converting her into a barracks ship. After the outbreak of World War I in August, her guns were removed for use on the front and she briefly served as a prison ship. Charles Martel was condemned in 1919 and was sold for scrap the following year.