French battleship Danton

Danton
History
France
Name	Danton
Namesake	Georges Danton
Ordered	1906 programme[1]
Builder	Arsenal de Brest
Laid down	February 1906
Launched	4 July 1909
Commissioned	1 June 1911
Fate	Sunk by U-64, 19 March 1917
General characteristics
Class and type	Danton-class semi-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	18,754 t (18,458 long tons) (normal)
Length	146.6 m (481 ft) (o/a)
Beam	25.8 m (84 ft 8 in)
Draft	8.44 m (27 ft 8 in)
Installed power	26 Belleville boilers 22,500 PS (16,500 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 steam turbines
Speed	19.25 knots (35.7 km/h; 22.2 mph)
Complement	25 officers and 831 enlisted men
Armament	2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 6 × twin 240 mm (9.4 in) guns 16 × single 75 mm (3 in) guns 8 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 2 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 180–250 mm (7.1–9.8 in) Turrets: 260–340 mm (10.2–13.4 in) Conning tower: 266 mm (10.5 in)

Danton was a semi-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy and the lead ship of her class. She was a technological leap in battleship development for the French Navy, as she was the first ship in the fleet with steam turbines. However, like all battleships of her type, she was completed after the Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought, and as such she was outclassed before she was even commissioned.

During her career Danton was sent to Great Britain to honor the coronation of George V, and later served in World War I as an escort for supply ships and troop transports, guarding them from elements of the German Navy. While en route to aid a blockade, she was torpedoed and sunk on 19 March 1917 by a German U-boat, leaving 296 men dead. The location of the wreck remained a mystery until an underwater survey team inadvertently discovered the battleship in December 2007. In February 2009, the wreck was confirmed to be Danton. The ship is in remarkably good shape for her age. Danton rests upright on the ocean floor, and most of the original equipment is reported to be intact.