French battleship Charles Martel
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Charles Martel |
| Namesake: | Charles Martel |
| Builder: | Brest |
| Laid down: | April 1891 |
| Launched: | August 1893 |
| Commissioned: | June 1897 |
| Struck: | 1922 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1922 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 11,639 t (11,455 long tons; 12,830 short tons) |
| Length: | 115.49 m (378.9 ft) |
| Beam: | 21.64 m (71.0 ft) |
| Draft: | 8.38 m (27.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement: | 644 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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Charles Martel was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the 1890s. She was laid down in April 1891, launched in August 1893, and completed in June 1897. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Carnot, Jauréguiberry, Bouvet, and Masséna, which were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. Like her half-sisters, she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm (12.0 in) guns and two 274 mm (10.8 in) guns in individual turrets. She had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).
Charles Martel spent her active career in the Mediterranean Squadron of the French fleet, first in the active squadron, and later in the Reserve Squadron. She regularly participated in fleet maneuvers, and in the 1901 exercises, the submarine Gustave Zédé hit her with a dummy torpedo, which was widely hailed in the press. Charles Martel was out of service by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, and so she saw no action during the conflict. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1922.
Charles Martel was the first member of a group of five battleships built to a broadly similar design, but different enough to be considered unique vessels. Design specifications were identical for each of the ships, but different engineers designed each vessel. The ships were based on the previous battleship Brennus, but instead of mounting the main battery all on the centerline, the ships used the lozenge arrangement of the earlier vessel Magenta, which moved two of the main battery guns to single turrets on the wings. The five ships were built in response to the British Royal Sovereign-class battleships.
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