On 11 February 1897, Navy Minister (Ministre de la Marine) Armand Besnard, after consultations with the Supreme Naval Council (Conseil supérieur de la Marine), requested a design for an enlarged Charlemagne-class battleship with a maximum displacement of 12,000 tonnes (11,810 long tons), an armour scheme capable of preserving stability and buoyancy after several penetrations of the hull and the resulting flooding, an armament equal to those of foreign battleships, a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), and a minimum range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi). The Director of Naval Construction (Directeur du matérial), Jules Thibaudier, had already prepared a preliminary design two months earlier with improved Harvey armour, but it was modified to increase the height of the belt armour above the waterline and to replace the 138.6-millimetre (5.5 in) guns of the Charlemagnes with 164.7-millimetre (6.5 in) guns. Thibaudier submitted his revised design on 9 February and it was approved by the Board of Construction (Conseil des travaux) on 4 March with minor revisions.[1]