65 mm guns and twelve 47 mm guns. There is similar disagreement over the torpedo armament, with Gardiner providing three to five torpedo tubes, Gille reporting five to six tubes, and Silverstone stating five tubes. According to the contemporary The Naval Annual, the ships were equipped with four tubes, two on each broadside. The ships were protected with a combination of mild steel and compound armor that varied between each member of the class. Their belt extended for the entire length of the hull and was approximately wide; of the belt was above the waterline. The armor belt was backed by a layer of teak that was used to help contain the effects of a shell hit. It was at the upper edge in the central portion, where it protected the ships' ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces, tapering to at the bottom edge. Toward the bow, the belt was reduced to at the top edge and at the bottom, while the stern section received slightly thicker protection, at and 254 mm, respectively. Marceau and Neptune had compound armor belts, while Magentas was steel. An armor deck that was of wrought iron atop a layer of of steel was attached to the upper edge of the belt. Above the belt, the ships had a cofferdam that was filled with cellulose forward; this structure was intended to limit flooding in the event of damage above the waterline. The barbettes for the main battery were thick and the supporting tubes that connected them to their magazines were ; Marceaus barbettes were steel while the other two ships had compound armor. According to a contemporary British report, the magazines were not directly protected and instead relied on the side and horizontal armor for protection. The guns themselves were covered by thick gun shields, which were intended to protect their crews from light weapons and small arms fire. Their forward conning tower was thick. Construction The ships of the class took around a decade to complete, far longer than should have been the case. Construction of the vessels was hampered by an inefficient system in France that lacked a centralized command structure that instead relied on separate construction and materiel organizations that shared responsibilities. Additionally, the French Navy continued to build large numbers of ships slowly, which was not a sustainable practice in a period of rapid developments in naval technology. As a result,