Gloire-class ironclad

Group of ships

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|

* 2,500 ihp (1,900 kW)
* 8 oval boilers

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|

* Belt: 120 mm (4.7 in)
* Battery: 120 mm (4.7 in)
* Conning tower: 100 mm (3.9 in)

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.

French ironclad Invincible

## Design and description

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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 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. Four of six 194 and eight 240-millimeter (9.4 in) guns were mounted in the middle of the gun deck and a pair of remaining 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]

## Ships

[edit]

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

## Service

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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]

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ Gardiner, p. 54
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gille, p. 23
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Campbell, p. 286
4. ^ a b c d de Balincourt & Vincent-Bréchignac, Part I, p. 14
5. ^ Gardiner, p. 159
6. ^ Silverstone, p. 101
7. ^ Gille, pp. 22–23

## Bibliography

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* de Balincourt, Captain & Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain (1974). "The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Part I". F.P.D.S. Newsletter. II (2): 12–15, 18. OCLC 41554533.
* de Balincourt, Captain & Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain (1974). "The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Pt. II". F.P.D.S. Newsletter. II (3): 23–25. OCLC 41554533.
* Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
* Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1992). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905. Conway's History of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 1-55750-774-0.
* Gille, Eric (1999). Cent ans de cuirassés français [A Century of French Battleships] (in French). Nantes: Marines. ISBN 2-909-675-50-5.
* Jones, Colin (1996). "Entente Cordiale, 1865". In McLean, David; Preston, Antony (eds.). Warship 1996. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-685-X.
* Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
* Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.

Gloire-class ironclads

* Gloire
* Invincible
* Normandie

* Preceded by: None
* Followed by: Couronne

List of ironclad warships of France

* v
* t
* e

Ironclad warships of France

Broadside ironclads|

* Gloire
* CouronneS
* Magenta
* Provence
* BelliqueuseS

Central battery ironclads|

* Alma
* Océan
* FriedlandS
* La Galissonnière
* RichelieuS
* Colbert
* RedoutableS
* Dévastation

Barbette ironclads|

* Amiral DuperréS
* Bayard
* Vauban
* Terrible
* Amiral Baudin
* HocheS
* Marceau
* Charles MartelX

Casemate ironclads|

* RochambeauS

Coastal defense ironclads|

* TaureauS
* OnondagaS
* Cerbère
* Tonnerre
* Tempête
* TonnantS
* FurieuxS
* Jemmapes
* Bouvines
* Henri IVS

Large armoured gunboats|

* Fusée
* Achéron

Floating batteries|

* Dévastation
* Palestro
* Arrogante
* Embuscade

Single ship of class

Cancelled
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