Preceded by Marceau class Planned 2 Cancelled 2 | Succeeded by Brennus Completed 0 | |
Name Charles Martel-class ironclad | ||
Charles Martel and Brennus were two French ironclad battleships laid down in 1881–85, but cancelled in 1886, at an early stage of construction. They were slightly enlarged Marceaus, but with partial waterline belt armour. (The only large French armoured battleships completed in the 19th Century to have a partial armoured belt were the Dévastation class and the Masséna.)
The two ships were suspended in 1886, as a result of a change in naval policy due to the appointment in January 1886 of Admiral Hyacinthe-Laurent-Theóphile Aube as Minister of Marine. Aube was a leading member of the Jeune École school of thought. The new policy was that naval operations of the future would be directed not on battleships, but on the commerce of the enemy, using cruisers and torpedo boats (then high technology). The money that was spent on construction of battleships was applied to completing vessels in an advanced state of completion.
The battleship Brennus laid down in 1889, was built to entirely new plans, though it used "as much as possible of the material on hand for the original ship".
British reactions
The Brennus and Charles Martel were first mentioned in the British Parliament in May 1886, when Conservative MP Lord Henry Lennox said that though the work on "the Hoche, the Magenta, the Neptune, and the Marçeau—has not been equal to the Estimate... They have laid down, or are about to lay down, two large iron-clads, one called the Brennus and the other the Charles Martel; and not only that, but they are going to lay down eight large armoured gun vessels, possessing great speed... At the end of 1883... England will have building and completing 11 first-class iron-clads; whereas France will have 17 at the same period." The Brennus and Charles Martel were referred to as building when next mentioned in March 1884. However in July 1884, the Liberal Secretary to the Admiralty, Henry Campbell-Bannerman, said: "two French ships—namely, the Brennus and Charles Martel — which are constantly quoted, but which are not yet laid down, and I should not be very much surprised if they were never laid down at all, although they have been on the Estimates for years." They were referred to again as under construction in April 1885.
In June 1886, George Shaw-Lefevre declared that: "the Brennus and the Charles Martel — which were in their programme two years ago, they have recently suspended, after something like £60,000 had been spent upon them. The determination of the Government was announced in the following communique to the Press:— 'Orders have been given to suspend all work on the Brennus and Charles Martel, upon which some money has been expended, and which are in the programme for the year 1886. Rather than undertake new large ships, we shall do well to finish those that are building and completing until experience shall have shown that it is necessary to construct ships of larger dimensions, and until we know what types are necessary for our Fleet.'" Sir Edward Reed said that he was "given to understand that they are stopped because of a disposition on the part of the French Government to suspend the construction of iron-clads, while the fact is that in an unfortunate moment the Chief Constructor of their Navy was brought under influences which at one time prevailed in this country and laid down two ships of a type approved at the time by our Admiralty; but having discovered that they were of an objectionable type, after no great amount of progress had been made with them, their construction was carried no further." Shaw-Lefevre argued that the official reason given by the French Government for stopping their construction was "that the value of vessels of this large type is so doubtful", and argued that work on the British Trafalgar-class battleships should also be suspended. Captain Price argued that the reason the French had suspended the Brennus and Charles Martel was that they had achieved parity of ironclads with the British, and that therefore it was important to continue with the construction of the Trafalgar class. Shaw-Lefevre suggested that "be better to apply the money which it is proposed to spend in the present year on the Nile and the Trafalgar, in hastening on the other iron-clads building in the Dockyards; and if any money is left over it might be spent in laying down some fast cruisers". The British did not follow the French example, though the Admiralty believed that the Trafalgars "will probably be the last iron-clads of this type that will ever be built in this or any other country."