French battleship Brennus

Brennus underway after her reconstruction, 1896
Class overview
Preceded by	Marceau class
Succeeded by	Charles Martel
History
France
Name	Brennus
Namesake	Brennus, a Gallic chieftain
Ordered	1888
Builder	Arsenal de Lorient
Cost	25,083,675 French francs
Laid down	2 January 1889
Launched	17 October 1891
Decommissioned	1 April 1914
In service	11 January 1896
Reclassified	As training ship, 15 November 1909
Stricken	22 August 1919
Fate	Scrapped, 1922
General characteristics
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	11,370 t (11,190 long tons) (deep load)
Length	110.3 m (361 ft 11 in) (p/p) 114.46 m (375 ft 6 in) (o/a)
Beam	20.4 m (66 ft 11 in)
Draft	8.28 m (27 ft 2 in)
Installed power	32 Belleville boilers 12,500 PS (9,200 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts; 2 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range	2,805 nmi (5,195 km; 3,228 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement	667
Armament	3 × 340 mm (13.4 in) guns 10 × 164.7 mm (6.5 in) guns 4 × 65 mm (2.6 in) 14 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 8 × 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns 6 × 37 mm 5-barrel revolver cannon 4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 300–400 mm (11.8–15.7 in) Deck: 60 mm (2.4 in) Conning tower: 120 mm (4.7 in) Main turrets: 405 or 455 mm (15.9 or 17.9 in)

Brennus was the first pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Marine Nationale (French Navy). Completed in 1896, she was the sole member of her class, with a main battery of heavy guns mounted on the centerline and the first use of Belleville boilers. She formed the basis for several subsequent designs, beginning with Charles Martel. As completed in 1893, the ship was very top-heavy and had to be rebuilt over the next three years before she was ready to enter service.

Brennus spent the majority of her service in the Mediterranean Squadron, and she served as its flagship early in her career. In 1900, she accidentally rammed and sank the destroyer Framée. As newer battleships were commissioned into the fleet, Brennus was relegated to the Reserve Squadron in the early 1900s and then served as a training ship. The ship had been decommissioned before the First World War began in August 1914 and was disarmed in 1915. She served as a source of spare parts and equipment for other ships during the war. Her hulk was stricken from the naval register in 1919 and was ultimately scrapped three years later.