French battleship République République was a pre - dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the early 1900s . The lead ship of her class , she had only one sister ship : " Patrie " . The ship was built by the Arsenal de Brest , laid down in December 1901 , launched in September 1902 , and commissioned into the fleet in December 1906 , the same time as the revolutionary British battleship . Armed with a main battery of four guns , she was outclassed by " Dreadnought " by the time she entered service . " République " served in the Mediterranean Fleet for the duration of her career . In 1910 she was accidentally torpedoed by " Patrie " . She was moored near the battleship " Liberté " when the latter exploded accidentally in 1911 , and was damaged by flying debris . After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she covered troop convoys from Algeria to France , and participated in the sinking of the Austro - Hungarian cruiser later that month . She spent the majority of the war in Corfu at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea , to keep the Austro - Hungarian fleet bottled up in the Adriatic . She was eventually stricken in 1921 and broken up for scrap thereafter . Design . " République " was laid down at the Arsenal de Brest in December 1901 , launched on 4 September 1902 , and completed in December 1906 , at the same time as the revolutionary British battleship , which rendered the pre - dreadnought s like " République " outdated . The ship was long between perpendiculars and had a beam of and a full - load draft of . She displaced at full load and had a crew of between 766 and 825 officers and enlisted men . She was powered by three vertical triple expansion engines with twenty - four Niclausse boiler s . They were rated at and provided a top speed of . Coal storage amounted to . " République " s main battery 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 ship ' s main belt was thick and the main battery was protected by up to of armor . The conning tower had thick sides . Service history . After commissioning in December 1906 , " République " conducted her sea trials . During the speed trials , she reached a top speed of , more than a knot faster than her contract speed of . In 1907 , after joining the fleet , " République " took first place in the annual gunnery competition . She was assigned to the 1st Division of the Mediterranean Fleet , along with her sister " Patrie " and " Suffren " , the divisional flagship . On 16 February 1910 , during exercises in the Gulf of Jouan , a torpedo was accidentally launched from her sister ship " Patrie " . The torpedo struck " République " , damaging her hull . On 25 September 1911 , the battleship " Liberté " was moored near " Republique " in Toulon . An accidental explosion , the result of the spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose gel , occurred aboard " Liberté " ; she was destroyed and debris was hurled into the air . " République " was hit by a piece of armor plate from " Liberté " , on the starboard quarter directly behind the main battery turret . At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , " République " was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Squadron in the Mediterranean , along with " Patrie " and the flagship , " Vérité " ; this was the main battle fleet of the French Navy . The French fleet was initially used to cover the movement of French troops — the XIX Corps — from Algeria to metropolitan France . As a result , the fleet was far out of position to catch the German battlecruiser . For the majority of the war , the French used their main fleet to keep the Austro - Hungarian fleet bottled up in the Adriatic Sea . In 1914 she participated in the Battle of Antivari , where the battle line caught the Austro - Hungarian cruiser by surprise and sank her . The French battleships then bombarded Austrian fortifications at Cattaro in an attempt to draw out the Austro - Hungarian fleet , which refused to take the bait . The French operations in the area were hampered by a lack of a suitable base close to the mouth of the Adriatic ; the British had given the French free access to Malta , but it was hundreds of miles away . The Austrians also possessed several submarine s , one of which torpedoed the dreadnought " Jean Bart " in December 1914 . The threat from underwater weapons greatly limited French naval activities in the Adriatic . As the war progressed , the French eventually settled on Corfu as their primary naval base in the area . Together with the pre - dreadnought , the ship covered the Allied evacuation from Gallipoli in January 1916 . Later in 1916 , " République " , " Patrie " , and the surviving s 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 . During the war , four of " République " s 3 - pounder guns were converted into anti - aircraft guns with new high - angle mounts . After the end of the war , " République " was placed in reserve in 1919 , along with " Patrie " . She was disarmed the following year and subsequently stricken from the naval register in 1921 and broken up for scrap .