Gloire-class ironclad
Gloire at anchor, 1860
|
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Gloire class |
| Operators: |
 French Navy
|
| Preceded by: | None |
| Succeeded by: | Couronne |
| Built: | 1858–1862 |
| In service: | 1860–1879 |
| In commission: | 1860–1879 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Scrapped: | 3 |
| General characteristics (as completed) | |
| Type: | Armored frigate |
| Displacement: | 5,618–5,650 t (5,529–5,561 long tons) |
| Length: | 77.25–78.22 m (253 ft 5 in–256 ft 8 in) |
| Beam: | 17 m (55 ft 9 in) |
| Draft: | 8.48 m (27 ft 10 in) |
| Depth of hold: | 10.67 m (35 ft 0 in) |
| Installed power: | |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 1 Horizontal return connecting rod-steam engine |
| Sail plan: | Barquentine-rigged |
| Speed: | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Range: | 2,200 nautical miles (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) |
| Complement: | 570 |
| Armament: | 36 × single 164 mm (6.5 in) Mle 1858 breech-loading guns |
| Armor: |
|
The Gloire-class ironclads were a group of three wooden-hulled armored frigates built for the French Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Gloire, the lead ship of the class, was the first ocean-going ironclad warship to be built by any country. The ships of the Gloire class were classified as armoured frigates because they only had a single gun deck and their traditional disposition of guns arrayed along the length of the hull also meant that they were broadside ironclads.
Designed by the French naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme, the ships of the class were intended to fight in the line of battle, unlike the first British ironclads. The ships were 77.25–78.22 meters (253 ft 5 in–256 ft 8 in) long, with a beam of 17 meters (55 ft 9 in). They had a maximum draft of 8.48 meters (27 ft 10 in), a depth of hold of 10.67 meters (35 ft 0 in) and displaced 5,618–5,650 metric tons (5,529–5,561 long tons). The ships of the class had a high metacentric height of 2.1 meters (7 ft) and consequently rolled badly. With their gun ports only 1.88 meters (6 ft 2 in) above the waterline, they proved to be very wet. They had a crew of 570 officers and enlisted men.
The ships of the Gloire class had a single horizontal return connecting-rod compound steam engine that drove a six-bladed, 5.8-meter (19 ft 0 in) propeller. The engine was powered by eight Indret oval boilers and was designed for a capacity of 2,500 indicated horsepower (1,900 kW). On sea trials, the ships exceeded 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). They carried a maximum of 675 metric tons (664 long tons) of coal which allowed them to steam for 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi) at a speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph). The Gloire-class ships were initially fitted with a light barquentine rig with three masts that had a sail area around 1,100 square metres (11,800 sq ft). This was later changed to a full ship rig of 2,500 square meters (27,000 sq ft), but later had to be reduced because excessive rolling.
...
Wikipedia