| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comm | Fate |
| A | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 10.1918 | ||
| B | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 10.1918 | ||
| C, 1918- Aisne | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 1930 | ||
| D | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 10.1918 | ||
| F | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 10.1918 | ||
| G, 1918- Marne | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 1930 | ||
| H, 1918- Oise | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 1930 | ||
| I, 1918- Somme | Arsenal de Brest / Arsenal de Lorient | 1915 | 1915 | 7/1915 | stricken 1930 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
110 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
28.5 |
|
Breadth, m |
5.00 |
|
Draught, m |
1.20 |
|
No of shafts |
2 |
|
Machinery |
2 VTE, 1 boiler |
|
Power, h. p. |
|
|
Max speed, kts |
9 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal |
| Endurance, nm(kts) | |
| Armour, mm | belt: 20, deck: 20, shield: 20 |
|
Armament |
1 x 1 - 139/45 M1893, 2 x 1 - 47/50 M1902 |
| Complement | 23 |
Project history: River gunboats for French mainland rivers (floating batteries). These river gunboats were designed by French naval constructors for service with the Army in France. Their construction was decided in 1915 when three types were designed. However only two of them were built. The first type armed with an M1893 138.6mm gun and second type armed with 2-100mm guns. Officially they were designated by letters (A, B, C, etc). The ships' companies gave them unofficial names such as Ardente, Brutale, Cruelle or Decidée. Of the first type eight boats were ordered in May 1915 and delivered in July by Arsenal de Brest and Arsenal de Lorient. The same yards built four boats of the second type between July 1915 and September 1915.
Modernizations: 1920, Aisne, Marne, Oise: armament consisted of only 1 x 1 - 75/35 M1897
Naval service: Gunboat C was lost on the Somme on 16 July 1916 by a 150mm shell but was soon refloated. Two other boats sank in bad weather on 4 October 1918 while on tow to Cherbourg. They were decommissioned in 1917 but four (C, G, H, I) joined the Rhine Flotilla in 1918.
B 1915
B 1915
Many thanks to Jay Willis (Alabama, USA) for granted pictures. Attention! The photograph was taken by his great aunt when she was a Red Cross nurse in the hospital at De Panne, Belgium, in 1915.
© Ivan Gogin, 2014