with the battleships , Gaulois, and Charlemagne, four cruisers, and accompanying destroyers for gunnery training off Golfe-Juan. At the time, Bouvet and Gaulois were the 2nd Division, with Bouvet in the lead; the other two ships formed the 1st Division. Two days later, when the divisions were ordered to change from two columns to a single line ahead for shooting drills, Bouvet failed to take her prescribed position and instead turned too closely to Gaulois. The latter accidentally struck the former, with Bouvet losing a ladder and incurring damage to one of the deck-mounted torpedo tubes. Gaulois had two armor plates torn from her bow. Both ships' captains were relieved of command over the incident. In October, Bouvet and the rest of the Mediterranean Squadron battleships steamed to Palma de Mallorca, and on their return to Toulon they conducted training exercises. The year 1904 saw the Mediterranean Squadron visit Souda Bay in Crete, Beirut, Smyrna, and Salonika in the Ottoman Empire, Messina in Sicily, and Piraeus, Greece during a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean in the middle of the year. The following year passed uneventfully for Bouvet, and on 10 April 1906, she, Iéna, and Gaulois were sent to Italy in the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The three ships carried some 9,000 rations and their crews assisted the victims to recover from the disaster. The division returned to France in time for a naval review on 16 September held in Marseilles that included detachments from Britain, Spain, and Italy. Bouvet and the other French ships then returned to Toulon. The following year, in January 1907, Bouvet was withdrawn from front-line service with the Mediterranean Squadron. Now part of the Second Squadron, she was retained on active service for the year, but with a reduced crew. In July 1908, the Mediterranean Fleet was reorganized and Bouvet was attached to the 3rd Battleship Division as its flagship, under the command of (Rear Admiral) Laurent Marin-Darbel, along with Jauréguiberry and the battleship . Beginning in January 1909, with the commissioning of the six and s, the Mediterranean Squadron was reorganized into two battle squadrons; Bouvet was at that time assigned to the 3rd Division, part of the 2nd Battle Squadron, still the flagship of Marin-Darbel. Her place was taken the following year by Saint Louis, and she remained out of service that year, with the exception of during the fleet