Gloire-class ironclad
Gloire
anchored, 1869
|
History
|
France
|
Name
| Gloire
|
Namesake
| Glory
|
Laid down
| 4 March 1858
|
Launched
| 24 November 1859
|
Completed
| August 1860
|
Stricken
| 1879
|
Fate
| Scrapped
, 1883
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Gloire
-class
ironclad
|
Displacement
| 5,618
t
(5,529
long tons
)
|
Length
| 78.22 m (256 ft 8 in)
|
Beam
| 17 m (55 ft 9 in)
|
Draught
| 8.48 m (27 ft 10 in)
|
Depth of hold
| 10.67 m (35 ft 0 in)
|
Installed power
| |
Propulsion
| |
Sail plan
| Barquentine
rigged
|
Speed
| 13
knots
(24 km/h; 15 mph)
|
Range
| 4,000
km
(2,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
|
Complement
| 570 officers and enlisted men
|
Armament
| |
Armour
| |
The
French ironclad
Gloire
(
[?lwa?]
, "Glory") was the first ocean-going
ironclad
, launched in 1859. She was developed after the
Crimean War
,
[1]
in response to new developments of naval gun technology, especially the
Paixhans guns
and
rifled guns
, which used explosive shells with increased destructive power against wooden ships. Her design was also influenced by the Anglo-French development of ironclad
floating batteries
to bombard
Russian
forts during the same war.
Design and description
[
edit
]
Gloire
was designed by the French
naval architect
Henri Dupuy de Lome
as a 5,630-ton
broadside ironclad
with a wooden hull. Her 12 cm-thick (4.7 in) armour plates, backed with 43 cm (17 in) of timber, resisted hits by the experimental shooting of the strongest guns of the time (the French 50-pounder and the British 68-pounder) at full charge, at a distance of 20 metres (65 ft).
Her maximum speed was 13.1 knots but other reports suggested no more than 11.75 knots had been attained and that 11 knots was the practical maximum.
[2]
As was common for the era,
Gloire
was constructed with sails as well as a steam-powered screw. The original rigging was a light
barquentine rig
providing 1,096 sq. m (11,800 sq. ft) of surface area. This was later increased to a
full rig
providing 2,508 sq. m (27,000 sq. ft) of surface.
[3]
Service
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
January 2014
)
|
Gloire
was launched at the arsenal of Mourillon,
Toulon
, on 24 November 1859; and entered service in August 1860. She was eliminated from the French fleet registry in 1879, and scrapped in 1883.
The ship underwent preliminary
trials
in June 1860 with official trials on 20-21 of August, where she achieved 13.5 knots. In September of that year, she escorted the imperial yacht
Aigle
[
fr
]
carrying Emperor
Napoleon III
to Algiers. During a storm on the return voyage, the
Gloire
was the sole escort able to remain with the
Aigle
. On 12 November,
Gloire
began comparative trials with the
Algesiras
,
culminating in a trial report on 30 March 1861.
[4]
Importance in naval history
[
edit
]
As the first ocean-going ironclad,
Gloire
rendered obsolete traditional unarmoured wooden ships-of-the-line, and all major navies soon began to build ironclads of their own.
Gallery
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The
Battle of Sinop
at the start of the war convinced the world's naval powers that wooden warships could not withstand the new weapons.
- ^
Wells, John (1987).
The immortal Warrior Britain's First and Last battleship
. Kenneth Mason. p. 46.
ISBN
0-85937-333-9
.
- ^
Jackson, Robert (2010).
Warships Inside Out
. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press. pp. 10?15.
ISBN
978-1-60710-109-3
.
- ^
Roberts, Stephen S. (2021).
French warships in the age of steam, 1859-1914: design, construction, careers and fates
. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-5267-4533-0
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Gloire
.
- de Balincourt, Captain & Vincent-Brechignac, Captain (1974). "The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Part I".
F.P.D.S. Newsletter
.
II
(2): 12?15, 18.
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 cuirasses francais
[
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
.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005).
Dictionnaire des batiments de la flotte de guerre francaise de Colbert a nos jours
[
A Dictionary of French Warships from Colbert to Today
] (in French). Vol. I: 1671 ? 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau.
ISBN
978-2-9525917-0-6
.
OCLC
165892922
.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984).
Directory of the World's Capital Ships
. New York: Hippocrene Books.
ISBN
0-88254-979-0
.