French battleship Henri IV

View from the starboard-side platform looking forward, 1915
History
France
Name:	Henri IV
Namesake:	Henry IV of France
Builder:	Cherbourg
Cost:	₣15,660,000 francs
Laid down:	15 July 1897
Launched:	23 August 1899
Commissioned:	September 1903
Struck:	1920
Fate:	Scrapped, 1921
General characteristics
Type:	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	8,807 metric tons (8,668 long tons)
Length:	108 m (354 ft 4 in)
Beam:	22.2 m (72 ft 10 in)
Draft:	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Installed power:	11,500 ihp (8,600 kW) 24 Niclausse boilers
Propulsion:	3 shafts 3 Vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range:	7,750 nmi (14,350 km; 8,920 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	26 officers and 438 enlisted men
Armament:	2 × 1 - Canon de 274 mm Modèle 1893/96 guns 7 × 1 - 138.6 mm (5.46 in) Mle 1893 guns 12 × 1 - 47 mm (1.9 in) Mle 1885 Hotchkiss guns 2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 180–280 mm (7.1–11.0 in) Decks: 60 mm (2.4 in) Ammunition shafts: 240 mm (9.4 in) Turrets: 270–110 mm (10.6–4.3 in)

Henri IV was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built to test some of the ideas of the prominent naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin. She began World War I as guardship at Bizerte. She was sent to reinforce the Allied naval force in the Dardanelles campaign of 1915, although some of her secondary armament had been removed for transfer to Serbia in 1914. Afterwards, she was relegated to second-line roles before being sent to Taranto as a depot ship in 1918. She was struck from the navy list in 1920 and scrapped the following year.

Henri IV was designed by the famous French naval architect Louis-Émile Bertin to evaluate some of his ideas. She was designed to make her a small target and lacked most of the normal rear superstructure common to ships of her period, other than that needed to keep her rear turret from being washed out. Her rear hull had only 4 feet (1.2 m) of freeboard, although she was built up to the normal upper deck height amidships and at the bow for better sea-keeping and to provide for her crew. Her superstructure was narrow and recessed from the hull above the main deck.

Henri IV was smaller than her predecessors, at 108 metres (354 ft 4 in) overall. She had a beam of 22.2 metres (72 ft 10 in) and a maximum draft of 7.5 metres (24 ft 7 in). She was significantly lighter than the Charlemagne-class battleships and displaced only 8,948 metric tons (8,807 long tons) normally, some 2,300 metric tons (2,260 long tons) less than the earlier ships. Her crew consisted of 26 officers and 438 enlisted men.

Henri IV had three vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft. The engines were rated at 11,500 indicated horsepower (8,600 kW) using steam provided by 24 Niclausse boilers and gave a top speed of 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). She carried a maximum of 1,100 tonnes (1,080 long tons; 1,210 short tons) of coal that gave her a range of 7,750 nautical miles (14,350 km; 8,920 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).