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French ironclad Redoutable
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For other ships with the same name, see French ship Redoutable.
Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.[13] She was preceded by the Colbert-class ironclads and was succeeded by Dévastation-class.
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![]() Redoutable in her original configuration | |
History | |
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Name | Redoutable |
Builder | Arsenal de Lorient[1] |
Laid down | |
Launched | 18 September 1876.[1][2] |
Commissioned | |
Stricken | 9 March 1910[1][3] |
Fate | |
General characteristics | |
Type | Central-battery ironclad |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 19.76 m (64 ft 10 in)[5] |
Draft | 7.8 m (26 ft)[5] |
Installed power | |
Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engines |
Sail plan | |
Speed | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) max speed on trials[7] |
Range | 2,840 nautical miles at 10 knots (5,260 km at 19 km/h)[8] |
Complement | 709[9] |
Armament | |
Armour |
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Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities[citation needed], using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.
All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875–1876.