Danton (1909)
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 The Danton |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Battleship |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | January 9, 1908 |
| Launch | 4th July 1909 |
| Namesake | Georges Danton . |
| Commissioning | July 24, 1911 |
| Whereabouts | sunk by U 64 on March 19, 1917 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
18,318 t |
| length |
144.90 m |
| width |
28.8 m |
| Draft |
9.2 m |
| crew |
921 men |
| drive |
26 coal-fired Niclausse boilers, |
| speed |
19.2 kn , |
| Range |
4000 nm at 10 kn |
| Armament |
• 4 × 305 mm cannon |
| Armor | |
| Armored deck |
45 and 48 mm |
| Belt armor |
150 to 270 mm |
| artillery |
300 mm main towers |
The Danton was a battleship of pre- Dreadnought era of the French Navy and the lead ship of a class of six units. Sister ships were Condorcet , Diderot , Mirabeau , Vergniaud and Voltaire .
The ship was named after the French revolutionary leader Georges Danton . It was used in World War I and sunk on March 19, 1917 by the German submarine U 64 about 35 km southwest of Sardinia .
history
A week after its completion on June 1, 1911, it was sent to England for the coronation of King George V. She was then transferred to the French Mediterranean Fleet .
At the beginning of the war , she and the other heavy units of the Mediterranean fleet secured the transfer of troops from Algeria to France. When the German Mediterranean Division bombarded the port of Philippeville and the SMS Breslau Bône in Algeria with the SMS Goeben on August 4, 1914 from 6:08 a.m. , the easternmost group of the Mediterranean fleet approaching from Toulon was sailing with the six ships of the Danton class of the 1st Ship of the line squadron, a division of armored cruisers and a destroyer flotilla to Philippeville, but it was too far away to be able to intervene. In addition, the French commander-in-chief ordered this group to join the Algiers group, fearing that the Germans would march further west. The Germans actually ran back to Messina at 17 knots to replenish their coal reserves. The French commander-in-chief forbade further single-drive troop transports and ordered the formation of convoy trains, which could only be formed after the fleet had arrived in Algerian ports. After the German division had marched off to Turkey, the French fleet concentrated on repelling possible attacks by the Austro-Hungarian Navy and secured the Strait of Otranto . Because Italy was neutral until 1915, Malta was used as the base and Bizerta as the French repair base. The Danton was only used in this area.
Downfall
The Danton was under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Delage when she came from U 64 under Robert Moraht at 1:47 p.m. on March 19, 1917 about 35 km southwest of Sardinia at 38 ° 45 ′ N , 7 ° 46 ′ E torpedoed. The ship came from an overhaul in Toulon and was on its way to the Greek island of Corfu to come back to the Allies' Otranto lock . After 45 minutes the Danton sank . She carried more men with her than usual on her last voyage, as there were also many crew members from other ships standing near Corfu on board. A total of 806 men were rescued from the accompanying destroyer Massue and other boats, 296 men were killed. Capitaine de Vaisseau Delage went down with his ship. U 64 survived a counterattack and escaped.
The wreck
The wreck of the Danton was found in August 2008 in the course of planning the Algeria-Sardinia-Italy gas pipeline , but it was not made public until February 2009. The pipeline will avoid the Danton .
credentials
Web links
- Cuirassé Danton (French, accessed June 3, 2011; PDF; 476 kB)
- Danton class, photos and documents
- The wreck of the Danton on www.wrecksite.eu