25 July. Later that year, Neptune was sent to Brest, where she was placed in the 2nd category of reserve. By 1900, the ship's boilers were in such bad condition that Neptune could no longer be operated. She was nominally assigned to the Reserve Division of the Mediterranean Squadron. She was decommissioned in November 1901, to await the delivery of new Belleville boilers that had been ordered in 1898. Some limited modifications were carried out in 1902, including cutting down her heavy military masts in favor of lighter pole masts. Neptune was moved to Cherbourg on 5 July 1905 to finally have her new boilers installed, but the shipyard there informed the navy that any funds spent renovating the ship would be a waste, given the age of the ship. The navy cancelled the planned refit and Neptune was again decommissioned on 1 June 1907. Neptune saw no further service, and during a debate over naval expenditures in 1908, the senator Alcide Poirrier expressed opposition to further such reconstructions and pointed out the waste of funds that the work on Neptune and several other vessels represented. Neptune was struck from the naval register on 4 February 1908 and was thereafter used as a target ship at Cherbourg through 1912. In November and December that year, she was used in tests with shells fitted with experimental warheads that were filled with Planclastite, a combination of nitrogen peroxide and carbon bisulfide. One of the tests sank the ship in shallow water, and she was re-floated on 4 April 1913. She was towed back to port and placed for sale on 11 July, and was sold on 20 October to be broken up. Notes References Marceau-class ironclads 1887 ships