Armored "Fleet of Samples". Yakimovich D.

Admirals of armored fleets did not require any additional arguments in favor of creating a squadron from the same type of ships. From the point of view of the supply, service, training of crews, joint maneuvering, such a squadron would give a fair manual of any heterogeneous. However, in the era of such a rapid development of military equipment as at the end of the 19th century, this was possible only with relatively simultaneous laying and the simultaneous construction of a large series of the same type of ships. To take such a step in a situation where the views on the future of the armored ship were regularly changed, it turned out to be risky - it was possible to get a whole squadron of ships of an unsuccessfully chosen type. However, in the early 1890s. The French agreed that five ships should be built according to one technical task, but instead of choosing one of the submitted projects, they preferred to lay five armadillos on five different projects. The result was immediately nicknamed Flotte d'échantillons, literally the "Fleet of the Samples". About the history of these five ships, although possessing similar characteristics, but in fact had much more differences than similar features, and this work tells.