Henry IV battleship, one of a kind

Mathll · February 26, 2026, 8:26pm

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Hello everyone and welcome to this new suggestion.

Today I’m presenting a unique and rather unusual ship, the Henry IV.

The Henry IV is a French battleship designed at the end of the 19th century. It is a unique vessel, belonging to no particular class, and is often considered an experimental ship, intended to test new concepts in naval architecture.

Its design reflects the hesitations of the time between classic battleships and more modern doctrines. The Henri IV is distinguished in particular by its heavily rammed bow, its compact profile, and an original arrangement of its main armament, designed to favor forward axial firing. These choices aimed to improve the ship’s offensive capability while reducing its exposed silhouette. Laid down in 1896 in Cherbourg, it entered service at the beginning of the 20th century. Upon entering service, it embodied the efforts of the French Navy to remain competitive against the major naval powers in a context of intense maritime rivalry.

Although relatively modern when it entered service, the Henri IV quickly suffered from the rapid evolution of naval technology, particularly with the advent of dreadnought-type battleships, which rendered earlier designs obsolete in just a few years. Its career was therefore relatively low-profile compared to that of other French battleships. It was primarily used for presence, training, and ceremonial missions, never playing a major role in large-scale naval engagements. Its main use during the First World War was patrolling the coast of Tunisia, but it was nonetheless present at the Battle of the Dardanelles.

After the war, the ship served briefly as a training ship in Toulon before finally being decommissioned in 1921 and sold for scrap.

The ship was named in honor of Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, who reigned in the 16th century.

Characteristics

The ship has a particularly original silhouette; indeed, the superstructure is placed on a hull that barely rises above sea level, thus reducing the size of the ship.

Length : 108.0 m

Width : 22.2 m

Draft : 7.5 m

Mass : 8,807 tons

The ship is propelled by three shafts powered by 24 Niclausse boilers, providing a total power of 11,500 hp. This allows the Henry IV to reach a top speed of 17 knots and a range of 7,750 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots.

The crew consists of 364 sailors.

Weapons

The armament of the Henry IV was quite conventional for its time, perhaps even less imposing than that of some ships of its size. However, its placement made all the difference; this ship was the first to have two turrets positioned one behind the other with a difference in height, allowing both cannons to fire simultaneously.

Guns :

2x1 274mm Mle 1893/96
- A front turret with a single gun
- A rear turret with a single gun
7x1 138.6mm Mle 1893
- Two cannons on each side in casemates (facing the front and rear respectively)
- One cannon on each side in a turret allowing 180° firing
- One rear cannon located above the main turret
12.1 47mm Mle 1885 Hotchkiss

Torpedo :

2x1 450mm Torpedo Tube

Armor

The ship has substantial armor for its time, possessing 3,528 tons of armor, which is more than 40% of its total mass.

Belt : 180–280 mm
Decks : 60 mm
Ammo walls : 240 mm
Turrets : 270–110 mm

In the game, this ship would be a particularly interesting addition to the French forces, providing a unique vessel with interesting combat and defensive capabilities without being too powerful or too weak. It would thus allow for an intelligent expansion of the French tech tree.

Pictures

Sources

jon_man1199 · February 27, 2026, 2:08am

A +1 from me! Would be super near and funny to see her pop up. That said, at least we don’t have heavy waves in-game; otherwise, that stern would be completely underwater 3/4 of the time. Its like the French looked at freeboard and asked “what freeboard”