French ironclad Hoche

Hoche in her 1890 configuration, as first completed
History
France
Namesake: Lazare Hoche
Ordered: 3 August 1880
Builder: Lorient
Launched: 29 September 1886
Completed: 1890
Decommissioned: April 1908
Nickname(s): "le Grand Hôtel" ("Grand Hotel")[1]
Fate: Sunk as target in 1913
General characteristics
Class & type: Derivative of the Amiral Baudin class
Displacement: 12,150 tonnes
Length: 98 m (322 ft)
Beam: 21.2 m (70 ft)
Draught: 7.9 m (26 ft)
Propulsion: 9,700 shp (7,200 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement: 650
Armament:
  • 2 × 1 340mm/28 Modèle 1881 guns
  • 2 × 1 274mm/28 Modèle 1881 guns
  • 18 × 1 138mm/45 Modèle 1888 guns
  • 5 × 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armour:
  • Belt: 460 mm
  • Deck: 80 mm
  • Bridge: 60 mm
  • Barbettes: 400 mm

The Hoche was an early battleship of the French Navy. She used the 340mm/28 Modèle 1881 gun as her main armament, like the Marceau class which followed. The Hoche was completed with a heavy but unarmoured superstructure that resulted in her being top heavy.[2] This was later lightened.[2]

In 1892, off Marseilles, Hoche collided with the steamer Maréchal Canrobert which sank with the loss of 107 lives.

In a refit lasting from September 1894 to April 1895, the eighteen 138mm guns were replaced by twelve of a newer model, which were faster-firing, and the aft armoured mast was replaced with a pole mast.[3] From 1899 to 1902, a major refit replaced the engines and boilers, replacing the single large stack with two smaller side-by-side stacks, and removed large portions of the superstructure.[4]

The Hoche was decommissioned and placed in reserve in April 1908, and disarmed on 1 January 1910.[3] She was sunk as practice target by the Jauréguiberry and the Pothuau on 2 December 1913.

Notes and references

  1. Maquette de bateau, Hoche, cuirassé d'escadre, 1886
  2. 1 2 Regan, Geoffrey (2001). Geoffrey Regan's Book of Naval Blunders. André Deutsch. pp. 43–44. ISBN 0-233-99978-7.
  3. 1 2 Backer, Steve. "Hoche".
  4. "French Barbette Ship Marceau (1881/1891)".

External links

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