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French battleship Iéna

March 12, 2023

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Iéna.

Iéna [je.na] was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy (Marine nationale). Completed in 1902 and named for one of Napoleon's victories, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and remained there for the duration of her career, frequently serving as a flagship. She participated in the annual fleet manoeuvres and made many visits to French ports in the Mediterranean. In 1907, while Iéna was docked for a refit, there was a magazine explosion that was probably caused by the decomposition of old Poudre B propellant. It killed 120 people and badly damaged the ship. Investigations were launched afterwards, and the ensuing scandal forced the Navy Minister to resign. While the damage could have been repaired, the obsolete ship was considered neither worth the time nor the expense; her salvaged hulk was used as a gunnery target in 1909, then sold for scrap in 1912.

A postcard of Iéna during her sea trials
Class overview
Operators French Navy
Preceded byCharlemagne class
Succeeded bySuffren
Built1898–1902
In service1902–1907
Completed1
Scrapped1
History
France
NameIéna
NamesakeBattle of Jena-Auerstedt
Ordered3 April 1897
BuilderArsenal de Brest
CostF25.58 million
Laid down15 January 1898
Launched1 September 1898
Completed14 April 1902
Decommissioned3 July 1907
Stricken18 March 1907
Fate
General characteristics
TypePre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length122.31 m (401 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam20.81 m (68 ft 3 in)
Draught8.45 m (27 ft 9 in)
Installed power
Propulsion3 shafts, 3 triple-expansion steam engines
Speed18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range4,400 nmi (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 10.3 knots (19.1 km/h; 11.9 mph)
Complement701
Armament
Armour

Design and description

On 11 February 1897 Navy Minister (Ministre de la Marine) Armand Besnard, after consultations with the Supreme Naval Council (Conseil supérieur de la Marine), requested a design for an enlarged Charlemagne-class battleship with a maximum displacement of 12,000 tonnes (11,810 long tons), an armour scheme capable of preserving stability and buoyancy after several penetrations of the hull and the resulting flooding, an armament equal to those of foreign battleships, a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) and a minimum range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi). The Director of Naval Construction (Directeur du matérial), Jules Thibaudier, had already prepared a preliminary design two months earlier with improved Harvey armour, but it was modified to increase the height of the belt armour above the waterline and to replace the 138.6-millimetre (5.5 in) guns of the Charlemagnes with 164.7-millimetre (6.5 in) guns. Thibaudier submitted his revised design on 9 February and it was approved by the Board of Construction (Conseil des travaux) on 4 March with minor revisions.[1]

Iéna had an overall length of 122.31 metres (401 ft 3 in), a beam of 20.81 metres (68 ft 3 in)[2] and, at deep load, a draught of 7.45 metres (24 ft 5 in) forward and 8.45 metres (27 ft 9 in) aft. She displaced 11,688 tonnes (11,503 long tons) at normal and 12,105 tonnes (11,914 long tons) at deep load.[3] As a flagship, Iéna had a crew of 48 officers and 731 ratings; as a private ship, her crew numbered 33 officers and 668 ratings.[4] The ship was fitted with large bilge keels, but, according to naval historian N.J.M. Campbell, was reported to roll considerably and pitch heavily,[5] although this is contradicted by Captain (Capitaine de vaisseau) Bouxin's report of November 1905: "From the sea-keeping point of view the Iéna is an excellent ship. Pitching and rolling movements are gentle and the ship rides the waves well."[6] Naval historians John Jordan and Philippe Caresse believe the ship was a good gun platform because she had a long, slow roll and she manoeuvred well.[7]

Iéna was powered by a trio of four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a three-bladed propeller that was 4.5 metres (14 ft 9 in) in diameter on the outer shafts and 4.4 metres (14 ft 5 in) on the centre shaft. The engines were powered by 20 Belleville boilers at a working pressure of 18 kg/cm2 (1,765 kPa; 256 psi) and were rated at a total of 16,500 metric horsepower (12,100 kW) to give the ship a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).[3] During her sea trials on 16 July 1901, the ship barely exceeded her designed speed, reaching 18.1 knots (33.5 km/h; 20.8 mph) from 16,590 metric horsepower (12,200 kW). Iéna carried a maximum of 1,165 tonnes (1,147 long tons) of coal; this allowed her to steam for 4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at a speed of 10.3 knots (19.1 km/h; 11.9 mph). The ship's 80-volt electrical power was provided by four dynamos, a pair each of 600- and 1,200-ampere capacity.[8]

Armament and armour

Like the Charlemagne-class ships, Iéna carried her main armament of four 40-calibre Canon de 305 mm (12 in) Modèle 1893–1896 guns in two twin-gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Each turret had a dedicated 300-ampere dynamo to traverse it and to power the ammunition hoist. The guns, however, were manually elevated between their limits of −5° and +15°, and they were normally loaded at an angle of −5°. The guns fired 340-kilogram (750 lb) armour-piercing, capped (APC) projectiles at the rate of one round per minute at a muzzle velocity of 815 m/s (2,670 ft/s).[9] This gave a range of 12,000 metres (13,000 yd) at the maximum elevation of +15°. The magazines stored 45 shells per gun,[3] and an additional 14 projectiles were stowed in each turret.[9]

The ship's secondary armament consisted of eight 45-calibre Canon de 164.7 mm Modèle 1893 guns, which were mounted in the central battery on the upper deck,[3] and fired 54.2-kilogram (119 lb) APC shells. At their maximum elevation of +15°, their muzzle velocity of 800 m/s (2,600 ft/s)[10] gave them a maximum range of 9,000 metres (9,800 yd). Each gun was provided with 200 rounds, enough for 80 minutes at their sustained rate of fire of 2–3 rounds per minute.[11] She also carried eight 45-calibre Canon de 100 mm (3.9 in) Modèle 1893 guns in single, unprotected, mounts on the shelter deck. These guns fired a 14-kilogram (31 lb) projectile at 740 m/s (2,400 ft/s),[12] which could be trained up to 20° for a maximum range of 9,500 metres (10,400 yd). Their theoretical maximum rate of fire was six rounds per minute, but only three rounds per minute could be sustained.[3] Each gun was provided with 240 shells in the ship's magazine.[13]

Iéna's anti-torpedo boat defences consisted of twenty 40-calibre Canon de 47 mm (1.9 in) Modèle 1885 Hotchkiss guns, fitted in platforms on both military masts, embrasures in the hull, and in the superstructure.[8] They fired a 1.49-kilogram (3.3 lb) projectile at 610 m/s (2,000 ft/s) to a maximum range of 4,000 metres (4,400 yd). Their theoretical maximum rate of fire was fifteen rounds per minute, but only seven rounds per minute sustained. The ship's magazines held 15,000 shells for these guns.[14] Rear-Admiral (Contre-amiral) René Marquis criticised the arrangements for the 47 mm guns in a 1903 report: "The number of ready-use rounds is insufficient and the hoists are desperately slow. The 47 mm guns, much more so than the large and medium-calibre guns, will have to fight at night; yet these are the only guns without a fire-control system designed for night operations. This is a deficiency which needs to be corrected as soon as possible."[15] Iéna also mounted four 450-millimetre (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, two on each broadside, one submerged and the other above water. The submerged tubes were fixed at a 60° angle from the centreline and the above-water mounts could traverse 80°.[16] Twelve Modèle 1889 torpedoes were carried, of which four were training models in peacetime.[14]

The ship had a complete waterline belt of Harvey armour that was 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) high. The armour plates were 320 mm (12.6 in) thick amidships; they thinned to a thickness of 272 mm (10.7 in) at the bow and 224 mm (8.8 in) at the stern. Below the waterline, the plates tapered to a thickness of 120 mm (4.7 in) at their bottom edge for most of the ship's length although the plates at the stern were 100 mm thick. The upper armour belt was in two strakes, the lower 120 mm thick and the upper 80 mm (3.1 in). Their combined height was 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) amidships. The lower strake was backed by a highly subdivided cofferdam intended to reduce flooding from any penetrating hits as its compartments were filled by 14,858 water-resistant "bricks" of dried and compressed Zostera seaweed (briquettes de zostère). The seaweed was intended to expand upon contact with water and plug any holes. The armoured deck consisted of a 65 mm (2.6 in) mild steel plate laid over two 9 mm (0.35 in) plates. The splinter deck beneath it comprised two layers of 17 mm (0.67 in) plates.[17]

The Harvey armour plates protecting the sides of the turrets were 290 mm (11.4 in) in thickness and the mild steel of the turret roofs was 50 mm (2 in) thick. The barbettes were protected by 250 mm (9.8 in) of Harvey armour. The sides and rear of the central battery were 90 mm (3.5 in) thick. The forward transverse bulkhead ranged in thickness from 55–150 millimetres (2.2–5.9 in), the thicker plates protecting the central battery, and reduced in thickness the further down it went until it met the armoured deck. The 164 mm guns were protected by 70-millimetre (2.8 in) gun shields. The armour plates protecting the conning tower ranged in thickness from 258 to 298 mm (10.2 to 11.7 in) on its face and rear, respectively. Its communications tube was protected by 200 mm (7.9 in) of armour.[18]

Construction and career

 
Iéna in March 1907

Ordered on 3 April 1897,[19] and named after the French victory at the Battle of Jena,[20] Iéna was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest on 15 January 1898.[5] She was launched on 1 September and completed (armement définitif) on 14 April 1902 at a cost of F25.58 million.[21] Five days later the ship departed for Toulon, losing one man overboard and having some problems with her rudder en route, before arriving on 25 April. Iéna became Marquis' flagship as commander of the Second Division of the Mediterranean Squadron on 1 May and was docked for repairs during 14–31 May. After the completion of the repairs the ship began a series of port visits in France and French North Africa which would be repeated for most of her career. She spent most of January 1903 refitting and was inspected by King Alfonso XIII of Spain during a visit to Cartagena in June. After another refit from 20 August to 10 September, Iéna, together with the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron, visited the Balearic Islands in October. During the return voyage, two crewmen died while training with the manual steering gear in heavy seas. Marquis was relieved by Rear-Admiral Léon Barnaud on 3 November. Iéna conducted training exercises off the coast of Provence from 19 November to 17 December.[22]

Iéna participated in the fleet review off Naples in April–May 1904 when Émile Loubet, President of France, had a state visit with King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Afterwards, the Mediterranean Squadron cruised the Levant, visiting Beirut, Suda Bay, Smyrna, Mytilene, Salonika and Piraeus. In 1905 the ship was refitted during 15–25 April and then participated in the summer cruise of the Mediterranean Squadron, during which she visited ports in France and French North Africa between 10 May and 24 June. She took part in the annual fleet manoeuvres over the period 3 July–1 August. Rear-Admiral Henri-Louis Manceron relieved Barnaud on 16 November. During 12–17 April 1906, Iéna was dispatched to provide assistance to Naples after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Beginning on 3 July, the ship participated in the combined fleet manoeuvres, which included the Northern Squadron that year. After the conclusion of the exercise on 4 August, she spent most of the next several months refitting, aside from participating in an international naval review in Marseilles on 16 September with British, Spanish and Italian ships. While exercising off Toulon shortly afterwards, the ship accidentally collided with and sank Torpedo Boat No. 96.[23]

Loss

 
A postcard showing the amidships portion of Iéna, with charred and scorched paint prominent

On 4 March 1907 Iéna was moved into Dry dock No. 2 in the Missiessy Basin at Toulon to undergo maintenance of her hull as well as an inspection of her leaking rudder shaft. Eight days later, beginning at 13:35 and continuing until 14:45, a series of explosions began near the aft 100-millimetre magazines which devastated the ship and the surrounding area. The explosions blew the roofs off three nearby workshops and gutted the area between the aft funnel and the aft turret. Because the ship was in a dry dock with the water pumped out, it was initially impossible to flood the magazines, which had not been unloaded before docking. The commanding officer of the battleship Patrie, which was moored nearby, fired a shell into the dry dock gates in an attempt to flood it, but the shell ricocheted without holing the gate. They were manually opened shortly afterwards by one of the ship's officers. A total of 118 crewmen and dockyard workers were killed by the explosions, as were 2 civilians in the suburb of Pont-Las who were killed by fragments.[24]

 
Inauguration of the monument to the victims of the explosion, 1908

On 17 March, the President of France, Armand Fallières, and Georges Clemenceau, who was both the President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior attended the funeral of those lost during the explosion. A national day of mourning was declared and a monument was built in the cemetery of Lagoubran. Both houses of the French Parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, organised commissions to inquire into the cause of the explosion. The Senate appointed its commission on 20 March under the chairmanship of Ernest Monis; the Chamber of Deputies followed eight days later with Henri Michel as chair.[25]

The origin of the first explosion was traced to a 100 mm magazine and was believed to have been caused by decomposing Poudre B, a nitrocellulose-based propellant, which tended to become unstable with age and self-ignite, though a report published in April 1907 stated a torpedo exploded in the torpedo room directly below the magazine.[26] When burnt, it gave off yellow-coloured smoke, which matched the colour seen by eye-witnesses. To test this theory, Gaston Thomson, the Navy Minister, ordered on 31 March that a replica magazine and the adjacent black-powder magazine be built, but when the tests were conducted on 6–7 August, they were deemed inconclusive because the propellant used in the test was not of the same age as that aboard Iéna. Fallières appointed a technical commission on 6 August that included mathematician Henri Poincaré, chemist Albin Haller and the inventor of Poudre B, Paul Vieille, that failed to come to a definite conclusion. The navy's Propellant Branch (Service des Poudres et Saltpêtres) objected to the criticisms of its product, claiming that it was tested to resist 43 °C (110 °F) temperatures for 12 hours, although it never explained how that test was relevant to the long-term storage of Poudre B in magazines limited to natural ventilation, as was used by every ship in the fleet.[27] The Monis Commission published its report on 9 July, blaming the explosion on Poudre B, and was debated on 21–26 November. The Michel Commission published its report on 7 November 1908, although its contents had been debated on 16–19 October, and was "a model of vagueness and imprecision".[28] The reason for the explosion became a cause célèbre with accusations of gross negligence by the government such that Thomson was forced to resign on the last day of the debate.[29]

Disposal

The multiple explosions ripped open the ship's side between Frames 74 and 84 down to the lower edge of the armour belt, and all the machinery in this area was destroyed. After it was estimated that it would take seven million francs and two years to fully repair Iéna, which was already obsolete, the navy decided to decommission her and use her as a target ship. The ship was stricken from the navy list on 18 March and her crew was reassigned on 3 July. Iéna was disarmed, except for her 305 mm guns, and all useful equipment was removed in 1908. She was rendered seaworthy again at a cost of 700,000 francs and was towed to a mooring off the Île des Porquerolles. A programme to evaluate the effectiveness of Melinite-filled armour-piercing shells began on 9 August 1909 with the armoured cruiser Condé firing projectiles from her 164.7 mm and 194 mm (7.6 in) guns at a range of 6,000 metres (6,600 yd). After every shot the results were photographed and the effects on the crew of wooden dummies and live animals evaluated. By 2 December Iéna was close to foundering and the navy decided to have her towed to deeper water. Shortly after the tow began, she capsized and sank in shallow water. The rights to the wreck were sold on 21 December 1912 for 33,005 francs and she was slowly broken up and salvaged between 1912 and 1927. Another company was contracted to remove the remnants of the wreck in 1957.[30]

Notes

  1. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 64–65
  2. ^ Gille, p. 101
  3. ^ a b c d e Caresse, p. 121
  4. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 67
  5. ^ a b Campbell, p. 296
  6. ^ Caresse, p. 127
  7. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 74
  8. ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 71
  9. ^ a b Jordan & Caresse, p. 68
  10. ^ Friedman, p. 221
  11. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 68–69
  12. ^ Friedman, p. 227
  13. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 69
  14. ^ a b Caresse, pp. 121–122
  15. ^ Caresse, p. 126
  16. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 55, 69
  17. ^ Jordan & Caresse, p. 70
  18. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 60, 70
  19. ^ Caresse, p. 122
  20. ^ Silverstone, p. 100
  21. ^ Jordan & Caresse, pp. 66, 68
  22. ^ Caresse, pp. 125–127; Jordan & Caresse, pp. 219, 221–222, 246
  23. ^ Caresse, pp. 127–128; Jordan & Caresse, pp. 223–224, 246
  24. ^ Caresse, pp. 129–130, 132
  25. ^ Caresse, pp. 134, 136
  26. ^ "The American Marine Engineer". March 1906. p. 18. Retrieved 30 July 2020 – via Google Books.
  27. ^ Caresse, pp. 132, 136–137
  28. ^ Caresse, pp. 136–137
  29. ^ Caresse, p. 137
  30. ^ Caresse, pp. 129, 134, 137–138

References

  • Campbell, N.J.M. (1979). "France". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Caresse, Philippe (2007). "The Iéna Disaster, 1907". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2007. London: Conway. pp. 121–138. ISBN 978-1-84486-041-8.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • Gille, Eric (1999). Cent ans de cuirassés français [A Century of French Battleships] (in French). Nantes: Marines édition. ISBN 2-909-675-50-5.
  • Jordan, John & Caresse, Philippe (2017). French Battleships of World War One. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-639-1.
  • Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.

Further reading

  • Caresse, Philippe (2018). "The Battleship Iéna". In Taylor, Bruce (ed.). The World of the Battleship: The Lives and Careers of Twenty-One Capital Ships of the World's Navies, 1880–1990. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87021-906-1.
  • Schwerer, Antoine (1912), Rapport concernant les poudres de la marine, présenté à M. le ministre à la suite de l'enquête qui lui a été confiée [Report on the Powders of the Navy, Presented to the Minister as a Result of the Investigation Entrusted to Him] (in French), Paris: Impr. nationale
  • Le Petit Journal supplément illustré 31 March 1907, 21 April 1907
  • L’Illustration n°3342 (16 March 1907) and 3343 (23 March 1907)

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iéna (ship, 1898).
  • Picture gallery of Iéna at battleships-cruisers.co.uk

March 12, 2023
french, battleship, iéna, other, ships, with, same, name, french, ship, iéna, iéna, dreadnought, battleship, built, french, navy, marine, nationale, completed, 1902, named, napoleon, victories, ship, assigned, mediterranean, squadron, remained, there, duration. For other ships with the same name see French ship Iena Iena je na was a pre dreadnought battleship built for the French Navy Marine nationale Completed in 1902 and named for one of Napoleon s victories the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and remained there for the duration of her career frequently serving as a flagship She participated in the annual fleet manoeuvres and made many visits to French ports in the Mediterranean In 1907 while Iena was docked for a refit there was a magazine explosion that was probably caused by the decomposition of old Poudre B propellant It killed 120 people and badly damaged the ship Investigations were launched afterwards and the ensuing scandal forced the Navy Minister to resign While the damage could have been repaired the obsolete ship was considered neither worth the time nor the expense her salvaged hulk was used as a gunnery target in 1909 then sold for scrap in 1912 A postcard of Iena during her sea trialsClass overviewOperators French NavyPreceded byCharlemagne classSucceeded bySuffrenBuilt1898 1902In service1902 1907Completed1Scrapped1HistoryFranceNameIenaNamesakeBattle of Jena AuerstedtOrdered3 April 1897BuilderArsenal de BrestCostF25 58 millionLaid down15 January 1898Launched1 September 1898Completed14 April 1902Decommissioned3 July 1907Stricken18 March 1907FateWrecked by a magazine explosion 12 March 1907 Sunk as target ship 2 December 1909 Sold for scrap 1912General characteristicsTypePre dreadnought battleshipDisplacement11 688 t 11 503 long tons designed 12 105 t 11 914 long tons deep load Length122 31 m 401 ft 3 in o a Beam20 81 m 68 ft 3 in Draught8 45 m 27 ft 9 in Installed power20 Belleville boilers 16 500 PS 12 100 kW Propulsion3 shafts 3 triple expansion steam enginesSpeed18 knots 33 km h 21 mph Range4 400 nmi 8 100 km 5 100 mi at 10 3 knots 19 1 km h 11 9 mph Complement701Armament2 twin 305 mm 12 in guns 8 single 164 7 mm 6 5 in guns 8 single 100 mm 3 9 in guns 20 single 47 mm 1 9 in guns 4 450 mm 17 7 in torpedo tubesArmourBelt 224 320 mm 8 8 12 6 in Deck 65 mm 2 6 in Barbettes 250 mm 9 8 in Turrets 290 mm 11 4 in Conning tower 258 298 mm 10 2 11 7 in Contents 1 Design and description 1 1 Armament and armour 2 Construction and career 2 1 Loss 2 2 Disposal 3 Notes 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksDesign and description EditOn 11 February 1897 Navy Minister Ministre de la Marine Armand Besnard after consultations with the Supreme Naval Council Conseil superieur de la Marine requested a design for an enlarged Charlemagne class battleship with a maximum displacement of 12 000 tonnes 11 810 long tons an armour scheme capable of preserving stability and buoyancy after several penetrations of the hull and the resulting flooding an armament equal to those of foreign battleships a speed of 18 knots 33 km h 21 mph and a minimum range of 4 500 nautical miles 8 300 km 5 200 mi The Director of Naval Construction Directeur du material Jules Thibaudier had already prepared a preliminary design two months earlier with improved Harvey armour but it was modified to increase the height of the belt armour above the waterline and to replace the 138 6 millimetre 5 5 in guns of the Charlemagnes with 164 7 millimetre 6 5 in guns Thibaudier submitted his revised design on 9 February and it was approved by the Board of Construction Conseil des travaux on 4 March with minor revisions 1 Iena had an overall length of 122 31 metres 401 ft 3 in a beam of 20 81 metres 68 ft 3 in 2 and at deep load a draught of 7 45 metres 24 ft 5 in forward and 8 45 metres 27 ft 9 in aft She displaced 11 688 tonnes 11 503 long tons at normal and 12 105 tonnes 11 914 long tons at deep load 3 As a flagship Iena had a crew of 48 officers and 731 ratings as a private ship her crew numbered 33 officers and 668 ratings 4 The ship was fitted with large bilge keels but according to naval historian N J M Campbell was reported to roll considerably and pitch heavily 5 although this is contradicted by Captain Capitaine de vaisseau Bouxin s report of November 1905 From the sea keeping point of view the Iena is an excellent ship Pitching and rolling movements are gentle and the ship rides the waves well 6 Naval historians John Jordan and Philippe Caresse believe the ship was a good gun platform because she had a long slow roll and she manoeuvred well 7 Iena was powered by a trio of four cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines each driving a three bladed propeller that was 4 5 metres 14 ft 9 in in diameter on the outer shafts and 4 4 metres 14 ft 5 in on the centre shaft The engines were powered by 20 Belleville boilers at a working pressure of 18 kg cm2 1 765 kPa 256 psi and were rated at a total of 16 500 metric horsepower 12 100 kW to give the ship a speed of 18 knots 33 km h 21 mph 3 During her sea trials on 16 July 1901 the ship barely exceeded her designed speed reaching 18 1 knots 33 5 km h 20 8 mph from 16 590 metric horsepower 12 200 kW Iena carried a maximum of 1 165 tonnes 1 147 long tons of coal this allowed her to steam for 4 400 nautical miles 8 100 km 5 100 mi at a speed of 10 3 knots 19 1 km h 11 9 mph The ship s 80 volt electrical power was provided by four dynamos a pair each of 600 and 1 200 ampere capacity 8 Armament and armour Edit Like the Charlemagne class ships Iena carried her main armament of four 40 calibre Canon de 305 mm 12 in Modele 1893 1896 guns in two twin gun turrets one each fore and aft of the superstructure Each turret had a dedicated 300 ampere dynamo to traverse it and to power the ammunition hoist The guns however were manually elevated between their limits of 5 and 15 and they were normally loaded at an angle of 5 The guns fired 340 kilogram 750 lb armour piercing capped APC projectiles at the rate of one round per minute at a muzzle velocity of 815 m s 2 670 ft s 9 This gave a range of 12 000 metres 13 000 yd at the maximum elevation of 15 The magazines stored 45 shells per gun 3 and an additional 14 projectiles were stowed in each turret 9 The ship s secondary armament consisted of eight 45 calibre Canon de 164 7 mm Modele 1893 guns which were mounted in the central battery on the upper deck 3 and fired 54 2 kilogram 119 lb APC shells At their maximum elevation of 15 their muzzle velocity of 800 m s 2 600 ft s 10 gave them a maximum range of 9 000 metres 9 800 yd Each gun was provided with 200 rounds enough for 80 minutes at their sustained rate of fire of 2 3 rounds per minute 11 She also carried eight 45 calibre Canon de 100 mm 3 9 in Modele 1893 guns in single unprotected mounts on the shelter deck These guns fired a 14 kilogram 31 lb projectile at 740 m s 2 400 ft s 12 which could be trained up to 20 for a maximum range of 9 500 metres 10 400 yd Their theoretical maximum rate of fire was six rounds per minute but only three rounds per minute could be sustained 3 Each gun was provided with 240 shells in the ship s magazine 13 Iena s anti torpedo boat defences consisted of twenty 40 calibre Canon de 47 mm 1 9 in Modele 1885 Hotchkiss guns fitted in platforms on both military masts embrasures in the hull and in the superstructure 8 They fired a 1 49 kilogram 3 3 lb projectile at 610 m s 2 000 ft s to a maximum range of 4 000 metres 4 400 yd Their theoretical maximum rate of fire was fifteen rounds per minute but only seven rounds per minute sustained The ship s magazines held 15 000 shells for these guns 14 Rear Admiral Contre amiral Rene Marquis criticised the arrangements for the 47 mm guns in a 1903 report The number of ready use rounds is insufficient and the hoists are desperately slow The 47 mm guns much more so than the large and medium calibre guns will have to fight at night yet these are the only guns without a fire control system designed for night operations This is a deficiency which needs to be corrected as soon as possible 15 Iena also mounted four 450 millimetre 17 7 in torpedo tubes two on each broadside one submerged and the other above water The submerged tubes were fixed at a 60 angle from the centreline and the above water mounts could traverse 80 16 Twelve Modele 1889 torpedoes were carried of which four were training models in peacetime 14 The ship had a complete waterline belt of Harvey armour that was 2 4 metres 7 ft 10 in high The armour plates were 320 mm 12 6 in thick amidships they thinned to a thickness of 272 mm 10 7 in at the bow and 224 mm 8 8 in at the stern Below the waterline the plates tapered to a thickness of 120 mm 4 7 in at their bottom edge for most of the ship s length although the plates at the stern were 100 mm thick The upper armour belt was in two strakes the lower 120 mm thick and the upper 80 mm 3 1 in Their combined height was 2 metres 6 ft 7 in amidships The lower strake was backed by a highly subdivided cofferdam intended to reduce flooding from any penetrating hits as its compartments were filled by 14 858 water resistant bricks of dried and compressed Zostera seaweed briquettes de zostere The seaweed was intended to expand upon contact with water and plug any holes The armoured deck consisted of a 65 mm 2 6 in mild steel plate laid over two 9 mm 0 35 in plates The splinter deck beneath it comprised two layers of 17 mm 0 67 in plates 17 The Harvey armour plates protecting the sides of the turrets were 290 mm 11 4 in in thickness and the mild steel of the turret roofs was 50 mm 2 in thick The barbettes were protected by 250 mm 9 8 in of Harvey armour The sides and rear of the central battery were 90 mm 3 5 in thick The forward transverse bulkhead ranged in thickness from 55 150 millimetres 2 2 5 9 in the thicker plates protecting the central battery and reduced in thickness the further down it went until it met the armoured deck The 164 mm guns were protected by 70 millimetre 2 8 in gun shields The armour plates protecting the conning tower ranged in thickness from 258 to 298 mm 10 2 to 11 7 in on its face and rear respectively Its communications tube was protected by 200 mm 7 9 in of armour 18 Construction and career Edit Iena in March 1907 Ordered on 3 April 1897 19 and named after the French victory at the Battle of Jena 20 Iena was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest on 15 January 1898 5 She was launched on 1 September and completed armement definitif on 14 April 1902 at a cost of F25 58 million 21 Five days later the ship departed for Toulon losing one man overboard and having some problems with her rudder en route before arriving on 25 April Iena became Marquis flagship as commander of the Second Division of the Mediterranean Squadron on 1 May and was docked for repairs during 14 31 May After the completion of the repairs the ship began a series of port visits in France and French North Africa which would be repeated for most of her career She spent most of January 1903 refitting and was inspected by King Alfonso XIII of Spain during a visit to Cartagena in June After another refit from 20 August to 10 September Iena together with the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron visited the Balearic Islands in October During the return voyage two crewmen died while training with the manual steering gear in heavy seas Marquis was relieved by Rear Admiral Leon Barnaud on 3 November Iena conducted training exercises off the coast of Provence from 19 November to 17 December 22 Iena participated in the fleet review off Naples in April May 1904 when Emile Loubet President of France had a state visit with King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy Afterwards the Mediterranean Squadron cruised the Levant visiting Beirut Suda Bay Smyrna Mytilene Salonika and Piraeus In 1905 the ship was refitted during 15 25 April and then participated in the summer cruise of the Mediterranean Squadron during which she visited ports in France and French North Africa between 10 May and 24 June She took part in the annual fleet manoeuvres over the period 3 July 1 August Rear Admiral Henri Louis Manceron relieved Barnaud on 16 November During 12 17 April 1906 Iena was dispatched to provide assistance to Naples after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius Beginning on 3 July the ship participated in the combined fleet manoeuvres which included the Northern Squadron that year After the conclusion of the exercise on 4 August she spent most of the next several months refitting aside from participating in an international naval review in Marseilles on 16 September with British Spanish and Italian ships While exercising off Toulon shortly afterwards the ship accidentally collided with and sank Torpedo Boat No 96 23 Loss Edit A postcard showing the amidships portion of Iena with charred and scorched paint prominent On 4 March 1907 Iena was moved into Dry dock No 2 in the Missiessy Basin at Toulon to undergo maintenance of her hull as well as an inspection of her leaking rudder shaft Eight days later beginning at 13 35 and continuing until 14 45 a series of explosions began near the aft 100 millimetre magazines which devastated the ship and the surrounding area The explosions blew the roofs off three nearby workshops and gutted the area between the aft funnel and the aft turret Because the ship was in a dry dock with the water pumped out it was initially impossible to flood the magazines which had not been unloaded before docking The commanding officer of the battleship Patrie which was moored nearby fired a shell into the dry dock gates in an attempt to flood it but the shell ricocheted without holing the gate They were manually opened shortly afterwards by one of the ship s officers A total of 118 crewmen and dockyard workers were killed by the explosions as were 2 civilians in the suburb of Pont Las who were killed by fragments 24 Inauguration of the monument to the victims of the explosion 1908 On 17 March the President of France Armand Fallieres and Georges Clemenceau who was both the President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the Interior attended the funeral of those lost during the explosion A national day of mourning was declared and a monument was built in the cemetery of Lagoubran Both houses of the French Parliament the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies organised commissions to inquire into the cause of the explosion The Senate appointed its commission on 20 March under the chairmanship of Ernest Monis the Chamber of Deputies followed eight days later with Henri Michel as chair 25 The origin of the first explosion was traced to a 100 mm magazine and was believed to have been caused by decomposing Poudre B a nitrocellulose based propellant which tended to become unstable with age and self ignite though a report published in April 1907 stated a torpedo exploded in the torpedo room directly below the magazine 26 When burnt it gave off yellow coloured smoke which matched the colour seen by eye witnesses To test this theory Gaston Thomson the Navy Minister ordered on 31 March that a replica magazine and the adjacent black powder magazine be built but when the tests were conducted on 6 7 August they were deemed inconclusive because the propellant used in the test was not of the same age as that aboard Iena Fallieres appointed a technical commission on 6 August that included mathematician Henri Poincare chemist Albin Haller and the inventor of Poudre B Paul Vieille that failed to come to a definite conclusion The navy s Propellant Branch Service des Poudres et Saltpetres objected to the criticisms of its product claiming that it was tested to resist 43 C 110 F temperatures for 12 hours although it never explained how that test was relevant to the long term storage of Poudre B in magazines limited to natural ventilation as was used by every ship in the fleet 27 The Monis Commission published its report on 9 July blaming the explosion on Poudre B and was debated on 21 26 November The Michel Commission published its report on 7 November 1908 although its contents had been debated on 16 19 October and was a model of vagueness and imprecision 28 The reason for the explosion became a cause celebre with accusations of gross negligence by the government such that Thomson was forced to resign on the last day of the debate 29 Disposal Edit The multiple explosions ripped open the ship s side between Frames 74 and 84 down to the lower edge of the armour belt and all the machinery in this area was destroyed After it was estimated that it would take seven million francs and two years to fully repair Iena which was already obsolete the navy decided to decommission her and use her as a target ship The ship was stricken from the navy list on 18 March and her crew was reassigned on 3 July Iena was disarmed except for her 305 mm guns and all useful equipment was removed in 1908 She was rendered seaworthy again at a cost of 700 000 francs and was towed to a mooring off the Ile des Porquerolles A programme to evaluate the effectiveness of Melinite filled armour piercing shells began on 9 August 1909 with the armoured cruiser Conde firing projectiles from her 164 7 mm and 194 mm 7 6 in guns at a range of 6 000 metres 6 600 yd After every shot the results were photographed and the effects on the crew of wooden dummies and live animals evaluated By 2 December Iena was close to foundering and the navy decided to have her towed to deeper water Shortly after the tow began she capsized and sank in shallow water The rights to the wreck were sold on 21 December 1912 for 33 005 francs and she was slowly broken up and salvaged between 1912 and 1927 Another company was contracted to remove the remnants of the wreck in 1957 30 Notes Edit Jordan amp Caresse pp 64 65 Gille p 101 a b c d e Caresse p 121 Jordan amp Caresse p 67 a b Campbell p 296 Caresse p 127 Jordan amp Caresse p 74 a b Jordan amp Caresse p 71 a b Jordan amp Caresse p 68 Friedman p 221 Jordan amp Caresse pp 68 69 Friedman p 227 Jordan amp Caresse p 69 a b Caresse pp 121 122 Caresse p 126 Jordan amp Caresse pp 55 69 Jordan amp Caresse p 70 Jordan amp Caresse pp 60 70 Caresse p 122 Silverstone p 100 Jordan amp Caresse pp 66 68 Caresse pp 125 127 Jordan amp Caresse pp 219 221 222 246 Caresse pp 127 128 Jordan amp Caresse pp 223 224 246 Caresse pp 129 130 132 Caresse pp 134 136 The American Marine Engineer March 1906 p 18 Retrieved 30 July 2020 via Google Books Caresse pp 132 136 137 Caresse pp 136 137 Caresse p 137 Caresse pp 129 134 137 138References EditCampbell N J M 1979 France In Gardiner Robert ed Conway s All the World s Fighting Ships 1860 1905 Greenwich UK Conway Maritime Press pp 283 333 ISBN 0 85177 133 5 Caresse Philippe 2007 The Iena Disaster 1907 In Jordan John ed Warship 2007 London Conway pp 121 138 ISBN 978 1 84486 041 8 Friedman Norman 2011 Naval Weapons of World War One Guns Torpedoes Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations An Illustrated Directory Barnsley Seaforth Publishing ISBN 978 1 84832 100 7 Gille Eric 1999 Cent ans de cuirasses francais A Century of French Battleships in French Nantes Marines edition ISBN 2 909 675 50 5 Jordan John amp Caresse Philippe 2017 French Battleships of World War One Annapolis Maryland Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 1 59114 639 1 Silverstone Paul H 1984 Directory of the World s Capital Ships New York Hippocrene Books ISBN 0 88254 979 0 Further reading EditCaresse Philippe 2018 The Battleship Iena In Taylor Bruce ed The World of the Battleship The Lives and Careers of Twenty One Capital Ships of the World s Navies 1880 1990 Barnsley Seaforth Publishing ISBN 978 0 87021 906 1 Schwerer Antoine 1912 Rapport concernant les poudres de la marine presente a M le ministre a la suite de l enquete qui lui a ete confiee Report on the Powders of the Navy Presented to the Minister as a Result of the Investigation Entrusted to Him in French Paris Impr nationale Le Petit Journal supplement illustre 31 March 1907 21 April 1907 L Illustration n 3342 16 March 1907 and 3343 23 March 1907 External links Edit Battleships portal Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iena ship 1898 Picture gallery of Iena at battleships cruisers co uk 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