THE “COURBET” (FORMERLY THE “FOUDROYANT”): FRENCH ARMORED SHIP OF THE FIRST CLASS.

Not one of the foregoing French ships of the early period conformed to conditions which were laid down officially in 1872 as those requisite for first-class French iron-clads, viz., that they should be constructed of iron (or steel), with water-tight compartments, be armored with plates 12 inches thick, with decks from 2 to 2½ inches thick, armed with guns of 24 centimetres calibre, commanding certain prescribed ranges of fire, and furnished with spurs or ram stems. There were, however, four ships then under construction or trial which did conform to the prescribed conditions, viz., the two already spoken of—the Courbet and Dévastation, and two others named the Redoutable and the Amiral Duperré. With these powerful ships may be said to have commenced the era of iron and steel line-of-battle ships in France. We will now bring them, together with still more recent French ships of the first class, into a table in which their particulars may be conveniently grouped.

Table A.—MODERN FRENCH ARMORED SHIPS OF THE FIRST CLASS.[24]

Name of Ship.Displacement
in tons.		Indicated
Horse-power.[25]		Speed in Knots.[25]Length.Breadth.Draught of Water.Maximum Thickness
of Armor.		Heaviest Guns carried.
Feet.Feet.Feet.Inches.
Amiral Baudin11,2008,32015 31970 25.822 3 of 75 tons.
Amiral Duperré10,3008,12014.231970 25.822 4 ” 48 ”
Dévastation9,9008,32014.531269.825.515 {4 ” 48 ”
{4 ” 28 ”
Formidable11,2608,32015 31970 25.822 3 ” 75 ”
Foudroyant9,5008,20015 31169.825.515 {4 ” 48 ”
(now Courbet){4 ” 28 ”
Hoche10,4805,50014 32966 26.517.7 4 ” 52 ”
Magenta10,4805,50014 32966 26.517.7 4 ” 52 ”
Marceau10,4805,50014 32966 26.517.7 4 ” 52 ”
Neptune10,4805,50014 32966 26.517.7 4 ” 52 ”
Redoutable9,0306,00014.231264.624.414 {4 ” 28 ”
{4 ” 24 ”
Caïman7,2004,80014 27159 23 17.5 2 ” 48 ”
Furieux5,7003,40012 24859 21.417.5 2 ” 48 ”
Indomptable7,2004,80014 27159 22.819.5 2 ” 75 ”
Requin7,2006,00014.527159 22.819.5 2 ” 75 ”
Terrible7,2004,80014 27159 22.819.5 2 ” 75 ”
Tonnant4,7071,75010 24858.417.317.5 2 ” 48 ”

The ship which alphabetically falls last in this table among the ships of 9000 tons and upwards, the Redoutable, came first in point of time, viz., in 1872, and her design marked the commencement of the new era in French iron-clad construction. One of the features of the change was, as already intimated, the abandonment of wooden hulls, which we had succeeded in accomplishing in England eight years before. The first design proposed by myself to the British Admiralty provided for an iron hull, and although the force of circumstances compelled us to construct my earliest war-vessels in timber, yet so strongly averse were we to the employment of so perishable a material as wood within an iron casing that Admiral Sir R. Spencer Robinson succeeded in preventing the construction of three out of five wooden line-of-battle armored ships that had previously been proposed by the government of the day, and sanctioned by Parliament. This was in 1863 or 1864, the Lord Clyde and Lord Warden being the last large armored wooden ships laid down in her Majesty’s dockyards.


THE “RICHELIEU.”

The French delayed the change for some years, as we see. M. De Bussy, the designer of the Redoutable, and a most accomplished naval constructor, built a very large part of the ship of steel, and by so doing brought the French dockyards into early acquaintance with the superiority of that material to iron for constructive purposes. The Redoutable has armor of more than 14 inches in thickness upon her belt, and of 9½ inches upon her central battery. She carries eight 25-ton guns[26]—four in her central battery, two in barbette half-towers, and two on revolving platforms at the bow and stern respectively. She also carries eight light 5½-inch guns. This ship generally resembles her successors, the Dévastation and the Foudroyant (by the same designer), in so far as that her batteries fire past sides, with great tumble home.