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Ah, the battle cry of the French pre-dreadnoughts...
Liberté! Égalité! Explodité!
Liberté! Égalité! Explodité!
This thing here is the French pre-dreadnought Liberté, and by the standards of the pre-dreads it's almost disappointingly normal.
Part of the reason for that is it was built comparatively late - completed later, in fact, than the Dreadnought it was nominally "pre".
Liberté was obsolete even before it entered service.
Liberté was obsolete even before it entered service.
Unfortunately it became even more obsolete in 1911, when it unexpectedly detonated in Toulon harbour...
Even by the standards of pre-dreads, the result was pretty ugly. 286 men were killed on board, along with others aboard other nearby ships. A 37 tonne chunk of armour wedged itself into République, over 200m away.
Do you want a cheap joke about an exploded diagram?
Of course you do.
Of course you do.
Whilst the remains became Toulon's newest tourist attraction - most of the images are from postcards ("Having a lovely time, ships keep exploding, wish you were here...") - the navy sat down and started trying to work out what the hell had gone wrong.
And you can understand why they were a bit perturbed. Waking up to find one of your battleships in this sort of state is always going to raise certain questions about how well it had been looked after.
Initial focus fell on the possibility of sabotage, possibly by Toulon's all powerful postcard publishing industry.
This thing here, also on a Toulon postcard - and note the ominous caption - is Iéna.
This thing here, also on a Toulon postcard - and note the ominous caption - is Iéna.
Iéna's explosion whilst being dry-docked in Toulon had killed 120 just four years earlier.
Being a pre-dread, it had also caused a slight increase in the French navy's average fighting ability.
Being a pre-dread, it had also caused a slight increase in the French navy's average fighting ability.
As Iéna was dry-docked at the time, when fire broke out it was impossible to flood the magazines.
Yes, the ship was still full of fuel. Yes, and the explodey stuff. And no, nobody thought to tell the Russians what went wrong for a whole century... https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1301842183042011139?s=20
Yes, the ship was still full of fuel. Yes, and the explodey stuff. And no, nobody thought to tell the Russians what went wrong for a whole century... https://twitter.com/TheDreadShips/status/1301842183042011139?s=20
On seeing Iéna's predicament the captain of the nearby Patrie (pictured below) did what every good captain would do after one too many bottles of fine wine, and immediately opened fire.
Allegedly it was to blow the dry dock gates open and let water in.
That old excuse, eh?
Allegedly it was to blow the dry dock gates open and let water in.
That old excuse, eh?
It should probably come as no surprise that being yet another French ship of a certain vintage, the shells from Patrie bounced straight off the gates of the dry dock.
Friendly fire not helping, and decidedly unfriendly fire now reaching her magazines, Iéna was doomed.
Friendly fire not helping, and decidedly unfriendly fire now reaching her magazines, Iéna was doomed.
The culprit in both cases had been "Poudre B".
One of the first smokeless propellants, Poudre B had theoretically given the French a tactical advantage in naval engagements.
It now emerged that it had given them a slight strategic disadvantage in their ships randomly exploding.
One of the first smokeless propellants, Poudre B had theoretically given the French a tactical advantage in naval engagements.
It now emerged that it had given them a slight strategic disadvantage in their ships randomly exploding.
It turned out that, under storage conditions, Poudre B was unstable and could ignite spontaneously. This was considered to be less than ideal.
I'd stand back from this image if I were you.
I'd stand back from this image if I were you.
Oddly, more stable versions of Poudre B had already been developed - indeed would be used into the 1950s. The navy just hadn't bothered replacing its existing stocks.
Still, it was good for postcard sales, eh?
Still, it was good for postcard sales, eh?
