Photographs and history of the French
Battleship Suffren, The Suffren was a further development of the
Charlemagne and Iena. built at Brest and
laid down on the 5th January 1899, launched 25th July 1899. and completed
October 1903. A major change with the chip was the re introduction of
turrets for the secondary 6.4 inch guns. The Suffren, took part i the Dardanelle's
campaign and was hit 14 times on the 18th march 1915. One large
shell hit below the waterline and flooded some compartments. causing
the Suffren to list. another shell. a 9.4 inch pierced the roof of a port
casemate which burst putting three of the 6.4 inch guns out of action and
causing a ammunition fire. it was lucky this did not cause a disastrous explosion
if the stored ammunition had been in metal QF cases. the severe damage was repaired. On
the 26th November 1916 on her way to Lorient for a refit. and while not
being escorted she was torpedoed by U52 off the Portuguese coast. It is
believed that a magazine exploded causing the Suffren to sink within seconds.
causing the loss of all the crew.
Displacement: 12,527 tons,
Speed: 17.9 knots. Crew: 714 Armament: Four 12 -inch /
40 cal <1893-96 guns mounted in pairs., ten 6.4 inch /45cal QF
M1893-96, Eight 3.9 inch, twenty two 3 pdr. Two 1 pdr.
and two 18 inch torpedo tubes (submerged) and two Torpedo Tubes AW which
were soon removed,.
