French battleship Danton Danton was a pre - dreadnought battleship of the French Navy and the lead ship of her class . She was a technological leap in battleship development for the French Navy , as she was the first ship in the fleet with turbine engine s . However , like all battleships of her type , she was completed after the Royal Navy battleship , and as such she was outclassed before she was even commissioned . During her career " Danton " was sent to Great Britain to honor the coronation of George V , and later served in World War I as an escort for supply ships and troop transports , guarding them from elements of the German Navy . While en route to aid a blockade , she was torpedoed and sunk on 19 March 1917 by a German U - boat , leaving 296 men dead . The location of the wreck remained a mystery until an underwater survey team inadvertently discovered the battleship in December 2007 . In February 2009 , the wreck was confirmed to be " Danton " . The ship is in remarkably good shape for her age . " Danton " rests upright on the ocean floor , and most of the original equipment is reported to be intact . Design . Although the s were a significant improvement from the preceding , especially with the 3 , 000 - ton displacement increase , they were outclassed by the advent of the dreadnought well before they were completed . This , combined with other poor traits , including the great weight in coal they had to carry , made them rather unsuccessful ships , though their numerous rapid - firing guns were of some use in the Mediterranean . " Danton " was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest in February 1906 , launched on 4 July 1909 , and commissioned into the French Navy on 1 June 1911 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a full - load draft of . She displaced at full load and had a crew of 681 officers and enlisted men . She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines with twenty - six Belleville boiler s , the first French warship to use turbines . They were rated at and provided a top speed of around . Coal storage amounted to . " Danton " s main battery consisted of four 305mm / 45 Modèle 1906 gun s mounted in two twin gun turret s , one forward and one aft . The secondary battery consisted of twelve 240mm / 50 Modèle 1902 gun s in twin turrets , three on either side of the ship . A number of smaller guns were carried for defense against torpedo boat s . These included sixteen L / 65 guns and ten guns . The ship was also armed with two torpedo tube s . The ship ' s main belt was thick and the main battery was protected by up to of armor . The conning tower also had 300 mm thick sides . Service . In May 1909 , at the launching ceremony for " Danton " , socialist activists prevented the ship from leaving the stocks . The ship was eventually launched on 4 July 1909 . A week after she was completed , she was sent to the United Kingdom in honour of the Coronation of George V in 1911 . Upon her return to France , " Danton " was assigned to the 1st Battle Squadron , along with her sister ships and the two powerful dreadnought s " Courbet " and " Jean Bart " . In 1913 , while off Hyères in the Mediterranean , " Danton " suffered an explosion in one of her gun turrets , which killed three men and injured several others . " Danton " served in World War I in the French Mediterranean Fleet . At the outbreak of the war in early August 1914 , she was assigned to guard convoys bringing French soldiers from North Africa , to protect from attack by the German battlecruiser and light cruiser , which were operating in the area . At the time , she remained in the 1st Battle Squadron alongside her sister ships , under the command of Vice Admiral Chocheprat . By 16 August , the French naval commander , Admiral de Lapeyrère , took the bulk of the French fleet from Malta to the entrance of the Adriatic to keep the Austro - Hungarian Navy bottled up . Sinking . " Danton " , commanded by Captain Delage , was torpedoed by , commanded by " Kapitänleutnant " Robert Moraht , at 13 : 17 on 19 March 1917 , south - west of Sardinia . The battleship was returning to duty from a refit in Toulon and was bound for the Greek island of Corfu to join the Allied blockade of the Strait of Otranto . " Danton " was carrying more men than normal , as many were crew members of other ships at Corfu , and had been zig - zagging to foil enemy submarines . The ship sank in 45 minutes ; 806 men were rescued by the destroyer " Massue " and nearby patrol boats , but 296 , including Captain Delage , went down with the ship . " Massue " attacked " U - 64 " with depth charges , but the U - boat successfully evaded her attacker . Discovery . In February 2009 , it was made public that in late 2007 the wreck of the ship was discovered " in remarkable condition " during an underwater survey between Italy and Algeria for the GALSI gas pipeline . The wreck lies at , a few kilometres away from where it had been thought she sank , sitting upright with many of her gun turrets intact at a depth of over . References . Online sources