French battleship Masséna
Masséna
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Masséna |
| Namesake: | André Masséna |
| Laid down: | September 1892 |
| Launched: | July 1895 |
| Commissioned: | June 1898 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 9 November 1915 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: | 11,735 tonnes (11,550 long tons) |
| Length: | 112.65 m (369 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 20.27 m (66 ft 6 in) |
| Draft: | 8.84 m (29 ft 0 in) |
| Propulsion: | 3 triple expansion engines |
| Speed: | 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Complement: | 667 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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Masséna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Bouvet, and Carnot, that were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. She was named in honour of Marshal of France André Masséna. Masséna significantly exceeded her design weight and suffered from serious stability problems that inhibited accurate firing of her guns; as a result, she was considered to be an unsuccessful design.
Masséna served in both the Northern and Mediterranean Squadrons during her career, which included a period as the flagship of the Northern Squadron. She was withdrawn from service before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The following year, she was hulked at Toulon. She was later towed to Cape Helles at the end of the Gallipoli peninsula where on 9 November 1915 she was scuttled to create a breakwater to protect the evacuation of the Allied expeditionary force withdrawing from the Gallipoli Campaign.
Masséna was the fourth member of a group of five battleships built to a broadly similar design, but different enough to be considered unique vessels. The first ship was Charles Martel, which formed the basis for Masséna and three other ships. 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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