The Unwanted Clairvoyant. A different French strategy in WW1
- Thread starter jeandebueil
- Start date
As far as I understand, the Jeune Ecole was already badly weakened during the 1900's and the latest pre-deard ship to be commissionned was the "Vergniaud"... in december 1911! The French navy was quite late in the dread race (later than the A-H navy, and that means something!).
Probably to south american navies. Chile seems a good choice. Greece would be nice but the French pre-war foreign policy was not that anti-ottoman so that seems unlikely.
The French adopting a reasonable uniform before the war would be nigh-ASB France-wank, after all. 
I'm surprised to see that the French experimented with helmets that early, though. Even if they look as useful as the pickelhaube.
And- oi! Be careful abou talking shit about the A-H navy in my presence. I will defend it harder than I bore people with other A-H stuff!
I'm surprised to see that the French experimented with helmets that early, though. Even if they look as useful as the pickelhaube.
And- oi! Be careful abou talking shit about the A-H navy in my presence. I will defend it harder than I bore people with other A-H stuff!
Archibald
Banned
LOL Vergniaud was the name of my son first nanny. Such a typical French name. 1911 is pretty late indeed, the French navy had some inertia back then.
I wonder what navy in his right mind would want to buy early French pre-dread. As I said in another post, every battleship before République / Liberté / Dantons were piece of junk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne-class_battleship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblehome
1911 is pretty late indeed, the French navy had some inertia back then.I wonder what navy in his right mind would want to buy early French pre-dread. As I said in another post, every battleship before République / Liberté / Dantons were piece of junk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne-class_battleship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblehome
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Fear not, dear lad, I have no problem with the A-H. And TBH, I find that the Tegetthoff ships were beautiful ones. That's just that the first Austrian dread was commissioned in december 1912. It's late but not late when you compare it to the French Navy policy about dreads. In fact, the A-H navy would be more than a match for the French Navy in 1914.The French adopting a reasonable uniform before the war would be nigh-ASB France-wank, after all.
I'm surprised to see that the French experimented with helmets that early, though. Even if they look as useful as the pickelhaube.
And- oi! Be careful abou talking shit about the A-H navy in my presence. I will defend it harder than I bore people with other A-H stuff!
Ugh... My eyes ?!! Where are my eyes ?!! One thing is certain, the Massena is going to be scrapped whatever happens because that one was one hell of a ugly beast.LOL Vergniaud was the name of my son first nanny. Such a typical French name.
I wonder what navy in his right mind would want to buy early French pre-dread. As I said in another post, every battleship before République / Liberté / Dantons were piece of junk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne-class_battleship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblehome
LOL Vergniaud was the name of my son first nanny. Such a typical French name.
I wonder what navy in his right mind would want to buy early French pre-dread. As I said in another post, every battleship before République / Liberté / Dantons were piece of junk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne-class_battleship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblehome
(Makes horrified noises)
My god, those are the ugliest things I've seen for quite some time. The word 'bulbous' comes to mind.
Deleted member 94680
A more energetic negotiation with the RN resulting in an earlier and more definite agreement for the protection of the North Coast might allow the Marine Nationale to 'reset' and have a Navy worthy of the name by the time Battleship actions become neccessary - say mid-1915 or early 1916...
Archibald
Banned
As for the Charlemagne-class, their careers were jokes. They should have been called the "Benny hill class".
They rammed a couple of (French) destroyers and a submarine, then a German submarine sunk one of them.
Basically, all three Charlemagne, plus the five different prototypes before them, were lost causes right from the shipyard.
Jauréguiberry was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy , launched in 1893. She was one of the class of five roughly similar battleships built in the 1890s, including Masséna, Bouvet, Carnot, and Charles Martel
(don't click or be warned, these things were ugly)
The first French pre-dread, the Brennus, wasn't that bad. Then the jeune école happened, and things went down the drain pretty fast.
What is striking (pun intented) is the number of rammings and explosions.
They rammed a couple of (French) destroyers and a submarine, then a German submarine sunk one of them.
Basically, all three Charlemagne, plus the five different prototypes before them, were lost causes right from the shipyard.
Jauréguiberry was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy , launched in 1893. She was one of the class of five roughly similar battleships built in the 1890s, including Masséna, Bouvet, Carnot, and Charles Martel
(don't click or be warned, these things were ugly)
The first French pre-dread, the Brennus, wasn't that bad. Then the jeune école happened, and things went down the drain pretty fast.
What is striking (pun intented) is the number of rammings and explosions.
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What came to my mind was the guy on the drums in Ben-Hur shouting - 'ramming speed' !!
Deleted member 94680
I've always thought they looked quite "steampunk" in their own way. Like something out of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or something.
Quite useless as real-world military machines, mind.
Indeed on both accounts.
But you missed the real "Da fuq.." of the French navy during the Junne Ecole period.
Behold. MN Hoche.
She was not a good sea boat
Thats her in the Med on a calm sea and look how bad the waves are going over her bow.
Archibald
Banned
It should have been called Moche (ugly)
To her defense, it was not a battleship or pre-dread but an ironclad (and ironclads like monitors dislike seas, they prefer coasts and rivers)
First full-blown French battleship was Brennus in 1891, Hoche is anterior.
But still it was ugly, no question about that. Maybe we should have a dedicated thread for French pre-Dreads.
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