French battleship Gaulois

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	11,260 t (11,080 long tons) (normal) 11,415 t (11,235 long tons) (deep load)
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	20 Belleville boilers 14,200 PS (10,400 kW)
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	692 750 as flagship
Armament	2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 10 × single 138.6 mm (5.5 in) guns 8 × single 100 mm (3.9 in) guns 20 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 2 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
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.