French battleship Masséna

*Masséna*
	Masséna
Class overview
Preceded by	Jauréguiberry
Succeeded by	Bouvet
History
France
Name	Masséna
Namesake	André Masséna
Laid down	September 1892
Launched	July 1895
Commissioned	June 1898
Fate	Scuttled 9 November 1915
General characteristics
Type	Pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	11,735 tonnes (11,550 long tons)
Length	112.65 m (369 ft 7 in)
Beam	20.27 m (66 ft 6 in)
Draught	8.84 m (29 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	3 triple expansion engines
Speed	17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement	667
Armament	2 × 305 mm/45 (12 in) Modèle 1893 guns; 2 × 274 mm/45 (10.8 in) Modèle 1893 guns; 8 × 138 mm/45 (5.5 in) Modèle 1891 guns; 8 × 100 mm (3.9 in) guns; 4 × 450 mm torpedo tubes (submerged);
Armour	Belt: 450 mm (18 in); Turrets: 400 mm (16 in); Conning tower: 350 mm (14 in);

Masséna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy, built in the 1890s. She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships, along with Charles Martel, Jauréguiberry, Bouvet, and Carnot, that were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class. She was named in honour of Marshal of France André Masséna. Masséna significantly exceeded her design weight and suffered from serious stability problems that inhibited accurate firing of her guns; as a result, she was considered to be an unsuccessful design.

Masséna served in both the Northern and Mediterranean Squadrons during her career, which included a period as the flagship of the Northern Squadron. She was withdrawn from service before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The following year, she was hulked at Toulon. She was later towed to Cape Helles at the end of the Gallipoli peninsula where on 9 November 1915 she was scuttled to create a breakwater to protect the evacuation of the Allied expeditionary force withdrawing from the Gallipoli Campaign.

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