FS Caiman (1885)

FS Cayman (1885) History

By the late 1870s, the French Navy was beginning to move away from traditional ironclad battleships with main guns mounted at or near the waterline, and began researching a new method of placing the main guns on turrets above the water to reduce their Wear in the Aral Sea environment. This work resulted in a quadruple-class warship - known as the Terrible - for coastal defense missions covering French interests.

The group consisted of Terrible (1887), Cayman (1885), Indomitable (1883) and Regin (1885). In their day, they were all well-armored, well-armed ships, with two masts and twin-screw drives powered by composite engine units fed by boilers.

The

Terrible classes are in the 7,530-ton range, smaller than the design Amiral Baudin on which they are based. Her main purpose was to serve in the Baltic Sea to repel German naval superiority if the two countries were once again at war.

This class was nicknamed the "Barbette ship" for its weapon placement, and joined the Tonnant and Furieux classes under this classification.

The keel of a caiman was laid in 1878. Her silhouette has two superstructures, one at the front and one at the back. Two equal-height masts were also used in the front and rear. The main guns - a pair of 16.5-inch guns - were arranged around a raised structural section, with one gun above the forecastle and the other facing the stern.

This leaves the bow and stern deck sections relatively unobstructed. Her funnel is forward amidships. With a vertical compound engine fed by her boiler, the boat can rely on a speed of 15 knots and a range of 1,750 nautical miles (cruising at about 10 knots). It has a crew of 373.

The displacement is 7,260 short tons, the length is 271 feet, the beam is 60 feet, and the draft is 26.2 feet. Armor protection ranges from 203mm to 500mm thick.

In 1895, caiman entered a period of reconstruction to protect them as a viable tool of warfare. She joined her sisters Indombtable and Requin in the project, which continued until 1901. Changes include brand new weapons as well as boiler equipment. By 1910, the Caiman's best days of sailing were over, when she fell into disrepair and was left in situ until she was scrapped in 1927. Although she did not serve in any combat during the First World War (1914-1918), her older sister, Requin, served in the First World War before being tortured in 1920.

By this time, she had been rebuilt to showcase the double flared profile and military-grade mast construction. Indomptable was scrapped along with Caiman in 1927, while Terrible was written off earlier in 1911.

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