French battleship Saint Louis Saint Louis was the last of the three " Charlemagne " - class pre - dreadnought battleship s built for the French Navy in the mid - 1890s . She spent most of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron ( " escadre de la Méditerranée " ) and usually was chosen to serve as a flagship . The ship was involved in two accidental ramming incidents with two other French warships in her career , one of which sank a submarine . When World War I began , she escorted Allied troop convoys for the first two months . " Saint Louis " was ordered to the Dardanelles in November 1914 to guard against a sortie into the Mediterranean by the German battlecruiser . In 1915 , she was transferred to the Eastern Mediterranean where she participated in bombarding Turkish positions in Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula . The ship returned to the Dardanelles in May and provided fire support during the Gallipoli Campaign . " Saint Louis " was transferred to the squadron assigned to prevent any interference by the Greeks with Allied operations on the Salonica front in May 1916 , after a lengthy refit in France . The ship was placed in reserve in April 1917 and briefly became a training ship in 1919 – 20 . She was converted to serve as an accommodation hulk in 1920 and listed for disposal as scrap in 1931 . " Saint Louis " did not find a buyer , however , until 1933 . Design and description . " Saint Louis " was long overall and had a beam of . At deep load , she had a draught of forward and aft . She displaced at deep load . Her crew consisted of 30 officers and 702 sailors as a private ship , or 41 officers and 744 men as a fleet flagship . The ship used three 4 - cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines , one engine per shaft . Rated at , they produced during the ship ' s sea trials using steam generated by 20 Belleville water - tube boilers . " Saint Louis " reached a top speed of on her trials . She carried a maximum of of coal which allowed her to steam for at a speed of . " Saint Louis " carried her main armament of four 40 - calibre Canon de 305 mm Modèle 1893 gun s in two twin - gun turret s , one each fore and aft . The ship ' s secondary armament consisted of ten 45 - calibre Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1893 gun s , eight of which were mounted in individual casemate s and the remaining pair in shielded mounts on the forecastle deck amidships . She also carried eight 45 - calibre Canon de 100 mm Modèle 1893 gun s in shielded mounts on the superstructure . The ship ' s anti - torpedo boat defences consisted of twenty 40 - calibre Canon de 47 mm Modèle 1885 Hotchkiss guns , fitted in platforms on both masts , on the superstructure , and in casemates in the hull . " Saint Louis " mounted four torpedo tube s , two on each broadside . Two of these were submerged , angled 20° from the ship ' s axis , and the other two were above the waterline . They were provided with twelve Modèle 1892 torpedoes . As was common with ships of her generation , she was built with a plough - shaped ram . The " Charlemagne " - class ships carried a total of of Harvey armour . They had a complete waterline armour belt that was high . The armour belt tapered from its maximum thickness of to a thickness of at its lower edge . The armoured deck was thick on the flat and was reinforced with an additional plate where it angled downwards to meet the armoured belt . The main turrets were protected by of armour and their roofs were thick . Their barbette s were thick . The outer walls of the casemates for the guns were 55 mm thick and they were protected by transverse bulkheads thick . The conning tower walls were thick and its roof consisted of 50 mm armour plates . Its communications tube was protected by armour plates thick . Construction and career . " Saint Louis " , named after King Louis IX , a Catholic saint , was authorised on 30 September 1895 as one of the three " Charlemagne " - class battleships . The ship was laid down at the Arsenal de Lorient on 25 March 1895 and launched on 2 September 1896 . She was commissioned on 15 September 1900 after completing her sea trials at the cost of 26 , 981 , 000 francs . Even before " Saint Louis " was formally commissioned , she participated in a naval review conducted by the President of France , Émile Loubet , at Cherbourg in July 1900 . The ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and arrived in Toulon on 24 September . " Saint Louis " became the squadron flagship on 1 October and retained that duty until 24 February 1904 . She transported Louis André , the Minister of War and Jean de Lanessan , the Minister of Marine on their tours of Corsica and Tunisia later in October . The following year , " Saint Louis " and the Mediterranean Squadron participated in an international naval review by President Loubet in Toulon with ships from Spain , Italy and Russia . On 25 June 1903 , the ship received King Alfonso XIII of Spain aboard while visiting Cartagena . In April 1904 , she was one of the ships that escorted President Loubet during his state visit to Italy . " Saint Louis " visited Morocco in December 1906 and did not return to Toulon until the following month . She became the flagship of the Second Battleship Division on 18 March and then became the flagship of the 4th Division on 17 April 1908 . The ship was briefly transferred to the Northern Squadron ( " escadre du Nord " ) , where she became its flagship , in October 1910 , and she participated in a large naval review by President Armand Fallières off Cap Brun on 4 September 1911 . Two days later , " Saint Louis " was struck by the destroyer during manoeuvers off Hyères . She was relieved as the Northern Squadron flagship on 11 November and began repairs , combined with a refit , at Cherbourg . This was completed in April 1912 and the ship resumed her role as the squadron flagship on 15 April . Less than two months later , she accidentally rammed the submarine on 8 June off the Casquets , killing all 24 of the submarine ' s crew . " Saint Louis " was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron a few months later and arrived in Toulon on 9 November . She became the flagship of the Second Division of the Third Squadron on 18 March 1913 and then was transferred to the Supplementary Division ( " division de Complement " ) and became its flagship on 10 February 1914 . World War I . Together with the older French pre - dreadnoughts , the ship ' s first mission in the war was to escort troop convoys from North Africa to France . On 23 September , " Saint Louis " was ordered to Port Said to escort a British convoy carrying troops from India . She remained on escort duties until November when she was ordered to the Dardanelles to guard against a sortie by the German battlecruiser " Goeben " . The ship remained on station there until January 1915 when she was given a brief refit at Bizerte . Upon its completion , " Saint Louis " was ordered to the Eastern Mediterranean where she became the flagship of the newly formed Syrian Squadron ( " escadre de Syrie " ) on 9 February . These ships were intended to attack Turkish positions and lines of communication in Syria , Lebanon , Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula . " Saint Louis " participated in the bombardment of Gaza and El Arish in April before she was transferred back to the Dardanelles in May . By this time , however , naval operations were limited to bombarding Turkish positions in support of Allied troops . The ship became the flagship of the Dardanelles Squadron ( " escadre des Dardanelles " ) on 26 August until she was relieved for a major refit at Lorient in October . When the refit was completed in May 1916 , " Saint Louis " was ordered to Salonica where she joined the French squadron assigned to prevent any interference by the Greeks with Allied operations in Greece where she arrived on 22 May . She became flagship of the Eastern Naval Division ( " division navale d ' Orient " ) on 26 October until she was transferred to Bizerte in February 1917 . The ship was placed in reserve in April and remained there until January 1919 when she was transferred to Toulon . " Saint Louis " was disarmed and decommissioned on 8 February and became a training ship for stoker s and engineers in Toulon . The ship was condemned on 20 June 1920 , although she was converted into an accommodation hulk . " Saint Louis " listed for disposal on 29 June 1931 , but was not purchased , for 600 , 230 francs , until 24 May 1933 .