1887, and she was the first large ship to be equipped with them. Her engines were rated at , which was intended to allow the ship to steam at a speed of ; during her sea trials on 9 January 1896, Brennus reached a maximum speed of from . The ship could carry of coal, which gave her a range of at a speed of . Electricity for lighting, searchlights, pumps, ventilators and other equipment was provided by four 400-ampere dynamos, each driven by a dedicated internal-combustion engine. Armament and armor Brennuss main battery consisted of three 42-caliber Canon de Modèle 1887 guns, two in a twin turret forward of the superstructure, and the third in a single turret aft. They fired cast iron (CI) projectiles, or heavier armor-piercing, capped (APC) and semi-armor-piercing, capped (SAPC) shells at a muzzle velocity of . At their maximum elevation of +10°, the guns had a range of . Designed to have a rate of fire of one round per two minutes, the actual rate of fire was about half that in service. The ship initially stowed 39 shells for each gun, but this was later increased to 61. The ship's secondary armament consisted of ten 45-caliber Canon de Modèle 1893 guns, four of which were mounted in single turrets amidships; the other six were located directly underneath them in casemates. They had a muzzle velocity of when firing their CI or AP or SAP shells. The guns had a range of at their maximum elevation of +20°. For defense against torpedo boats, Brennus was equipped with a suite of quick-firing guns, the largest of which were four 50-caliber Canon de Modèle 1891 guns in single unshielded mounts on the fore and aft superstructure. Their shells had a muzzle velocity of which gave them a range of . The suite was rounded out by fourteen 40-caliber Modèle 1885 guns and fourteen Modèle 1885 Hotchkiss guns, of which six of the latter were 5-barrel revolver cannon. All of these guns were positioned in the fighting tops on the military masts and in the superstructure. The ship was also fitted with four above-water torpedo tubes on rotating mounts, two on each broadside. She carried two Modèle 1889 torpedoes for each tube. The torpedoes had two speed and range settings: at or at . Brennuss armor mostly consisted of nickel steel. The waterline belt was thick amidships