 The Charles Martel was a pre @-@ dreadnought battleship of the French Navy built in the 1890s . She was laid down in April 1891 , launched in August 1893 , and completed in June 1897 . She was a member of a group of five broadly similar battleships , along with Carnot , Jauréguiberry , Bouvet , and Masséna , which were ordered in response to the British Royal Sovereign class . Like her half @-@ sisters , she was armed with a main battery of two 305 mm ( 12 @.@ 0 in ) guns and two 274 mm ( 10 @.@ 8 in ) guns in individual turrets . She had a top speed of 18 knots ( 33 km / h ; 21 mph ) . 
