french battleship pre dreadnought battleship french_navy lead ship class laid november launched april completed march year revolutionary british battleship ships like obsolete commissioning assigned mediterranean_fleet served half years moored toulon september explosion badly degraded charges detonated forward ammunition magazines officers men killed ship totally destroyed wreck remained harbor raised broken scrap design laid shipyard november launched april completed march year revolutionary british battleship hms dreadnought rendered pre dreadnoughts like outdated completed ship meters long perpendiculars beam load draft displaced metric tons long tons short tons load crew officers enlisted men battleship powered vertical triple expansion steam engines belleville boilers rated indicated horsepower provided speed knots mph coal storage amounted long tons short tons main battery consisted canon modèle guns mounted twin gun turrets forward aft secondary battery consisted canon modèle guns mounted single turrets casemates hull carried thirteen pounder guns pounders ship armed torpedo tubes submerged hull ship main belt thick main battery protected armor conning tower thick sides service history commissioning assigned september justice visited united_states battleships commanded admiral foreign contingent arrive september moored toulon harbor accidental explosion forward ammunition magazines secondary guns destroyed ship initial explosion charges ship commander captain tried organize damage control teams stern sent party forward flood magazines prevent explosion main magazines flooding located magazines path blocked fires smoke failed attempts reach men returned captain ordered try killed main magazines exploded shortly explosion metric ton long ton short ton armor plate ship battleship moored away caused significant damage french_navy earlier suffered series fatal accidents toulon beginning explosion aboard torpedo boat february men killed following month battleship blew killing men explosion aboard gunnery training ship killed august explosion cruiser killed men killed aboard cruiser year later september explosion aboard killed officers men culprit unstable based responsible destruction possibly explosions wreck remained toulon raised broken scrap accidental explosion high number victims justified state president occurred following october tragedy raised emotional wave solidarity france small villages sending financial support help families victims captain responsibility disaster subsequent naval board hold sea going command
French battleship Liberté