Le Napoléon (1850)

Napoléon (1850), the first purpose-built steam battleship in history.
History
France
Name:	Napoléon
Namesake:	Napoléon I of France
Ordered:	14 July 1847
Builder:	Toulon
Laid down:	7 February 1848
Launched:	16 May 1850
Commissioned:	1 May 1852
Struck:	6 November 1876
General characteristics
Class and type:	Napoléon-class ship of the line
Displacement:	5,120 tonnes
Length:	77.8 m (255 ft 3 in)
Beam:	17 m (55 ft 9 in)
Draught:	8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:	Sail and 2-cyl Indret geared, 960 nhp (574 ihp)
Speed:	12.1 knots (22.4 km/h; 13.9 mph)
Endurance:	3 months' worth of food 9 days' worth of coal at full-speed
Complement:	910 men
Armament:	90 guns (32–30 pdr,4–22 cm) (26–30 pdr,4–22 cm) (14–16 cm)

Napoléon was a 90-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, and the first purpose-built steam battleship in the world. She is also considered the first true steam battleship, and the first screw battleship ever.

Launched in 1850, she was the lead ship of a class of nine battleships, all built over a period of ten years. This class of ship was designed by the famous naval designer Henri Dupuy de Lôme. She was originally to be named Prince de Joinville, in honour of François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinville, but was renamed 24 Février during the French Second Republic to celebrate the abdication of Louis Philippe I, and later to Napoléon in May 1850, a few days after her launch. The Prince of Joinville mentioned the incident in his Vieux Souvenirs, bitterly writing "I still laugh about it".

Before the experimental adoption of the screw in warships in the 1840s, the only available steam technology was that of the paddle wheels, which, due to their positioning on the side of the hull and the large machinery they required were not compatible with the broadside cannon layout of the battleships.

From 1844–45 the Anglo-French collapsed following the French interventions in Tahiti and Morocco, and the publication of French pamphlets advocating a stronger navy (such as "Notes sur l’état des forces navales" by the Prince de Joinville), leading to an arms race in the naval area.

The United Kingdom already had a few coastal units with screw/steam propulsion in the 1840s, called "blockships", which were conversions of small traditional battleships into floating batteries with a jury rig, with a medium 450 hp (340 kW) engine for speeds of 5.8 knots (10.7 km/h; 6.7 mph) to 8.9 knots (16.5 km/h; 10.2 mph). The Royal Navy had also commissioned a number of steam sloops, HMS Rattler being the first screw-propelled warship to be launched anywhere in the world in 1843. Both nations had also developed steam frigates, the French Pomone launched in 1845, and the British Amphion a year later. However, Napoléon was the first regular steam battleship to be launched.