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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.
 Gloire at anchor, 1869 | |
| 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 HRCR-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 muzzle-loading guns |
| Armor |
|
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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.[1] The ships were 77.25–78.22 meters (253 ft 5 in – 256 ft 8 in) long,[2] with a beam of 17 meters (55 ft 9 in). They had a maximum draft of 8.48 meters (27 ft 10 in),[3] 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).[2] The ships of the class had a high metacentric height of 2.1 meters (7 ft) and consequently rolled badly.[3] With their gun ports only 1.88 meters (6 ft 2 in) above the waterline, they proved to be very wet.[4] They had a crew of 570 officers and enlisted men.[2]
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.[4] The engine was powered by eight Indret[2] oval boilers and was designed for a capacity of 2,500 indicated horsepower (1,900 kW).[3] On sea trials, the ships exceeded 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[2] 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).[4] 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 of excessive rolling.[3]
The ships were initially armed with 36 Modèle 1858 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) rifled muzzle-loading guns, 34（14 each sides and 2 pivot mounts fore and 4 pivot mounts aft as chase guns）of which were positioned on the single gun deck in the broadside. The remaining two guns were placed on the upper deck as chase guns.[2] They fired a 44.9-kilogram (99.0 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of only 322 meters per second (1,060 ft/s) and proved to be ineffective against armour.[5] They were replaced by rifled breech-loading Modèle 1864 guns in 1868. Six Canon de 24 C modèle 1864 guns were mounted in the middle of the gun deck and on the upper deck two 194-millimeter (7.6 in) guns replaced the original chase guns.[2]
The wooden hull was completely armoured with wrought iron plates 120 millimeters (4.7 in) thick. Backed by the 760-millimeter (30 in) sides of the hull, the armour extended 5.4 meters (17 ft 9 in) above the waterline and 2.0 meters (6 ft 7 in) below.[4] The Gloire-class ships had an open-topped conning tower with armour 100 millimeters (3.9 in) thick and 10 millimeters (0.4 in) of armour underneath the wooden upper deck.[3]
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| Ship | Builder[3] | Laid down | Launched[3] | Completed[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloire | Arsenal de Toulon | 4 March 1858[2] | 24 November 1859 | August 1860 |
| Invincible | 1 May 1858[6] | 4 April 1861 | March 1862 | |
| Normandie | Arsenal de Cherbourg | 14 September 1858[3] | 10 March 1860 | 13 May 1862 |
All three ships of the class had very uneventful careers, spending the bulk of their time with the Mediterranean Fleet aside from a few excursions to foreign waters.[7] Normandie supported the French intervention in Mexico in 1862, the first ironclad to cross the Atlantic. They were active during the Franco-Prussian War, but saw no action. Gloire, the only ship built with seasoned timber lasted the longest, not being condemned and broken up until 1879. Her sister ships only lasted a decade in service before they were too rotten for any further use and were condemned in 1871–1872 and subsequently broken up.[3]
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