French battleship Bouvet
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| Warship
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| Shipyard:
| Lorient, France
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| Laid down:
| January 16, 1893
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| Launched:
| April 27, 1896
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| Commissioned:
| June 1898
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| Decommissioned:
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| Fate:
| Sunk by mine, March 18, 1915
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| General Characteristics
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| Displacement:
| 12,007 tons
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| Length:
| 117.81 m
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| Beam:
| 21.39 m
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| Draught:
| 8.38 m
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| Propulsion:
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| Speed:
| 18 knots
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| Complement:
| 666 - 710
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| Armament:
| 2 x 12-in/45-calibre guns
2 x 10.8/45-cal guns
8 x 5.5-in/45-cal guns
8 x 3.9-in guns
12 x 3-pounder guns
2 x 18-in torpedo tubes
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The French battleship Bouvet was a pre-Dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, (probably) named after French mariner and explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, launched in 1896 and sunk during World War I.
The Bouvet was part of the squadron contributed by the French to the Dardanelles Campaign. On March 18, 1915, the British commander, Rear Admiral John de Robeck, launched a concerted effort to overwhelm the Turkish forts defending the Dardanelles straits and the Bouvet was one of the four French battleships making up the second line.
Bouvet sustained eight hits from Turkish artillery fire and the forward turret was disabled. When de Robeck ordered the French line to retire, Bouvet turned to starboard into Erin Keui Bay where a line of mines lay undetected. The battleship struck a mine below the starboard 10.8-in turret and suffered a massive explosion, probably of a magazine. Lacking effective internal compartmentation, the Bouvet capsized and sank within two minutes, taking over 600 crew with her.
Despite the loss of the Bouvet, the first such loss of the day, the British remained unaware of the minefield, thinking the explosion had been caused by a shell or torpedo. Subsequently two British battleships were sunk and the battlecruiser HMS Inflexible damaged by the same minefield.
