République - class battleship The " République " class was a pair of pre - dreadnought battleship s of the French Navy ; the ships were " République " , the lead ship , and " Patrie " . Built between 1901 and December 1906 , they were actually completed at the same time as the British , the revolutionary design of which rendered the French ships obsolete before they entered service . Nevertheless , the design for " République " and " Patrie " corrected many of the problems in earlier French battleships . " République " and " Patrie " served in the Mediterranean Fleet for the duration of their careers , including the entirety of World War I . They saw action at the Battle of Antivari in August 1914 and spent most of 1914 – 15 blockading the Straits of Otranto to prevent Austro - Hungarian warships from breaking out into the Mediterranean . They both contributed some of their crews to the attempt to ensure Greek acquiescence to Allied operations in Macedonia in Athens in late 1916 . They spent the rest of the war based in Athens or Salonica . After the end of the war , " République " was placed in reserve in 1919 , disarmed in 1920 and sold for scrapping in 1921 ; " Patrie " was placed in reserve as well in 1919 and served as a training ship from 1920 , until she was stricken in 1927 and she too was sold to the ship - breakers in 1928 . Design . " République " and " Patrie " were authorized in the Fleet Law of 1900 , which also called for four additional battleships , which were to be the similar . The new battleship design corrected many of the defects in earlier battleships , which was accomplished through increases in the displacement and beam . They also had a significantly reduced tumblehome compared to earlier French battleships . General characteristics and machinery . The ships were long between perpendiculars and had a beam of and a full - load draft of . " République " displaced at full load , and " Patrie " displaced slightly more , at full load . The ships were built with a tall forecastle deck that extended all the way to the mainmast . " République " and " Patrie " retained a small fighting mast for the foremast , but had a lighter pole mast for the mainmast . They had a crew of between 766 and 825 officers and enlisted men . The ships had a metacentric height of , and were equipped with bilge keels to increase their stability . The ships were powered by three 4 - cylinder vertical triple expansion engines with twenty - four Niclausse boiler s . The boilers were divided into three boiler rooms , each of which were trunked into their own funnel . They were rated at and provided a top speed of . The ships were equipped with four electric generators that had a combined output of 1 , 000 $ 4 at 83 volts . Coal storage amounted to . At an economical cruising speed of , the ships could steam for . Armament and armor . The main battery for the " République " - class ships consisted of four Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1893 / 96 gun s mounted in two twin gun turret s , one forward and one aft . The secondary battery consisted of eighteen Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893 guns ; twelve were mounted in twin turrets , and six in casemate s in the hull . She also carried twenty - five 3 - pounder guns . The ship was also armed with two torpedo tube s submerged in the hull . The ships ' main belt was thick at the waterline and extended for almost the complete length of the hull , from the bow to near the stern . The belt was reduced to on the top edge and on the bottom . On the bow and stern , the thicknesses were reduced to , , and 81 mm , respectively . The armored deck was thick amidships , and increased to on the slopes that connected to the belt . The main battery was protected by up to of armor , and had bases with thick armor plate . The secondary turrets had thick faces and 280 mm thick back plates to balance the turrets , and the casemate guns were protected with 140 mm of armor . The conning tower had thick sides . History . " République " was laid down in December 1901 , at the Arsenal de Brest shipyard . She was launched on 4 September 1902 and after completing fitting out , was commissioned into the French Navy in December 1906 . " Patrie " was built by the La Seyne shipyard in Toulon . She was laid down on 1 April 1902 , launched 17 December 1903 , and commissioned in December 1906 . The ships were completed at the same time as the revolutionary British battleship ; her design , which incorporated a uniform large - caliber main battery and high - speed steam turbines , rendered all other pre - dreadnought s like the " République " class obsolete . " République " and " Patrie " spent their careers in the French Mediterranean Fleet , and were involved in several accidents . While " Patrie " was still conducting sea trials on 29 May 1907 , a condenser pipe in one of her boilers burst . Several stokers were scalded , and the ship had to return to Toulon to have the condenser pipe replaced . In February 1910 , " Patrie " accidentally launched a torpedo that hit " République " , though the damage was not serious . In Toulon in September 1911 , the battleship " Liberté " blew up from badly decomposed propellant charges ; a large piece of her armor plate struck " République " , which was moored nearby . Both ships were in the Second Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 . They participated in the Battle of Antivari in mid - August and unsuccessfully attempted to lure out the Austro - Hungarian battle fleet . They spent the early part of the war based at Corfu , Navarino and Malta , to keep the Austro - Hungarians bottled up in the Adriatic Sea . In 1916 the ships supported Allied operations in Salonica and also detached landing parties to support the Allied attempt to force Greek acquiescence for those operations in Athens on 1 December . They spent the rest of the war at Salonica and Athens . " Patrie " became flagship of the French squadron at Salonica in 1918 . After the end of the war , both ships were placed in reserve in 1919 . " République " was disarmed in 1920 and stricken from the naval register in 1921 and subsequently broken up for scrap . " Patrie " was retained longer , serving as a training ship in Toulon for mechanics and torpedomen until 1927 , when she too was stricken and sold for scrap .