French ironclad Victorieuse
Encyclopedia
Victorieuse (Victorious) was the second ship of the of wooden-hulled, armored corvette
s built for the French Navy
during the 1870s. Her construction was delayed for years and the navy took advantage of the extended construction time to upgrade her armament in comparison to the lead ship
, . Unlike her sisters
, Victorieuse did not see any combat although she participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands
in 1880. She was condemned in 1900.
. They used the same central battery layout as their predecessors, although the battery was lengthened 4 metre to provide enough room to work the larger 240 millimetres (9.4 in) guns. Victorieuse and her sister ship
were modified by Sabattier who reduced the number of screws from two to one to improve their sailing qualities, added an 194 millimetres (7.6 in) bow chaser under the forecastle
and increased the caliber and number of the secondary armament.
Victorieuse was 76.85 metre between perpendiculars and had a beam of 14.88 metre. She had a mean draft of 6.3 metre and displaced 4150 tonnes (4,084.4 LT). Her crew numbered between 352 and 382 officers and men.
s. During sea trial
s her engine produced 2214 ihp and the ship reached 12.75 knots (6.9 m/s). She only carried 330 metric tons (324.8 LT) of coal which allowed her to steam for 2740 nautical miles (5,074.5 km) at a speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s). Victorieuse was also ship-rigged with three masts and had a sail area of 1730 sqm.
s on the upper deck, sponson
ed out over the sides of the ship, just forward of the funnel. A 194-millimeter chase gun
was fitted under the forecastle. Victorieuses secondary armament of six 138 millimetres (5.4 in) guns was also mounted on the upper deck.
The armor-piercing
shell of the 19-caliber
240-millmeter gun weighed 317.5 pounds (144 kg) while the gun itself weighed 15.41 long tons (15.7 t). It had a muzzle velocity
of 1624 ft/s (495 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 14.4 inches (366 mm) of wrought iron
armour at the muzzle. The 20-caliber 194-millimeter gun fired an armor-piercing
, 165.3 pounds (75 kg) shell while the gun itself weighed 7.83 long tons (8 t). The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity
of 1739 ft/s (530 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 12.5 inches (31.8 cm) of wrought iron
armour at the muzzle. The 138-millimeter gun was 21 calibers long and weighed 2.63 long tons (2.7 t). It fired a 61.7 pounds (28 kg) explosive shell
that had a muzzle velocity of 1529 ft/s (466 m/s). The guns could fire both solid shot
and explosive shells.
The ship also mounted four 37 millimetres (1.5 in) Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns
. They fired a shell weighing about 500 g (1.1 lb) at a muzzle velocity of about 610 m/s (2,001.3 ft/s) to a range of about 3200 metres (3,499.6 yd). They had a rate of fire of about 30 rounds per minute. Victorieuse also received several towed Harvey torpedoes.
waterline belt
, approximately 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) high laid over 650 millimetres (25.6 in) of wood. The sides of the battery itself were armored with 120 millimetres (4.7 in) of wrought iron backed by 520 millimetres (20.5 in) of wood and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was 120 millimetres (4.7 in) thick. The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by thin iron plates.
on 5 August 1869 and launched on 18 November 1875. While the exact reason for such prolonged construction time is not known, the budget for the French Navy was cut after the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870–71 and the French dockyards had not been reformed with working practices more suitable for the industrial age. The ship was commissioned for her sea trial
s on 12 November 1876 and she was placed in reserve in Toulon after they were completed. She was recommissioned as the flagship
of the Pacific Squadron on 17 August 1878 under the command of Rear Admiral
Bergasse du Petit-Thouars. The ship participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands in 1880, which had been conquered by the admiral's uncle Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars
forty years before. Victorieuse returned to Toulon on 23 May 1881.
The ship was recommissioned as the flagship of the China Squadron on 1 December 1881 under the command of Rear Admiral Meyer. She was relieved by her sister La Galissonnière in April 1884. She became flagship of the Levant Squadron after she arrived in France, but was in bad shape and soon placed in reserve at Cherbourg. Victorieuse became the flagship of Rear Admiral Barrera, second-in-command of the Northern Squadron on 10 February 1892. The ship was on summer maneuvers off the Iberia
n coast in July 1893. Two years later she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Ménard. She was initially condemned in May 1897, but this was reversed so she could convoy torpedo boat
s to Bizerte
. That plan was later cancelled and Victorieuse was paid off in 1899, becoming guardship of the outer harbor at Brest
until finally condemned the following year.
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s built for the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
during the 1870s. Her construction was delayed for years and the navy took advantage of the extended construction time to upgrade her armament in comparison to the lead ship
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
, . Unlike her sisters
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
, Victorieuse did not see any combat although she participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands enana and Te Fenua `Enata , both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W...
in 1880. She was condemned in 1900.
Design and description
The La Galissonnière-class ironclads were designed as faster, more heavily armed versions of the s by Henri Dupuy de LômeHenri Dupuy de Lôme
Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lôme was a French naval architect. He was the son of a naval officer and was born in Ploemeur near Lorient, Brittany, in western France. He was educated at the École Polytechnique...
. They used the same central battery layout as their predecessors, although the battery was lengthened 4 metre to provide enough room to work the larger 240 millimetres (9.4 in) guns. Victorieuse and her sister ship
Sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...
were modified by Sabattier who reduced the number of screws from two to one to improve their sailing qualities, added an 194 millimetres (7.6 in) bow chaser under the forecastle
Forecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...
and increased the caliber and number of the secondary armament.
Victorieuse was 76.85 metre between perpendiculars and had a beam of 14.88 metre. She had a mean draft of 6.3 metre and displaced 4150 tonnes (4,084.4 LT). Her crew numbered between 352 and 382 officers and men.
Propulsion
Victorieuse had a single vertical compound steam engine driving a single propeller. Her engine was powered by four oval boilerBoiler (steam generator)
A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water. Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure but, at pressures above this, it is more...
s. During sea trial
Sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...
s her engine produced 2214 ihp and the ship reached 12.75 knots (6.9 m/s). She only carried 330 metric tons (324.8 LT) of coal which allowed her to steam for 2740 nautical miles (5,074.5 km) at a speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s). Victorieuse was also ship-rigged with three masts and had a sail area of 1730 sqm.
Armament
Victorieuse mounted four of her six 240-millmeter Modèle 1870 guns in the central battery on the battery deck. The other two 240-millimeter guns were mounted in barbetteBarbette
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...
s on the upper deck, sponson
Sponson
Sponsons are projections from the sides of a watercraft, for protection, stability, or the mounting of equipment such as armaments or lifeboats, etc...
ed out over the sides of the ship, just forward of the funnel. A 194-millimeter chase gun
Chase gun
The chase guns, usually distinguished as bow chasers and stern chasers were cannons mounted in the bow or stern of a sailing ship...
was fitted under the forecastle. Victorieuses secondary armament of six 138 millimetres (5.4 in) guns was also mounted on the upper deck.
The armor-piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
shell of the 19-caliber
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
240-millmeter gun weighed 317.5 pounds (144 kg) while the gun itself weighed 15.41 long tons (15.7 t). It had a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 1624 ft/s (495 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 14.4 inches (366 mm) of wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
armour at the muzzle. The 20-caliber 194-millimeter gun fired an armor-piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
, 165.3 pounds (75 kg) shell while the gun itself weighed 7.83 long tons (8 t). The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity
Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...
of 1739 ft/s (530 m/s) and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 12.5 inches (31.8 cm) of wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
armour at the muzzle. The 138-millimeter gun was 21 calibers long and weighed 2.63 long tons (2.7 t). It fired a 61.7 pounds (28 kg) explosive shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
that had a muzzle velocity of 1529 ft/s (466 m/s). The guns could fire both solid shot
Round shot
Round shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
and explosive shells.
The ship also mounted four 37 millimetres (1.5 in) Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns
Hotchkiss gun
The Hotchkiss gun can refer to different products of the Hotchkiss arms company starting in the late 19th century. It usually refers to the 1.65-inch light mountain gun; there was also a 3-inch Hotchkiss gun...
. They fired a shell weighing about 500 g (1.1 lb) at a muzzle velocity of about 610 m/s (2,001.3 ft/s) to a range of about 3200 metres (3,499.6 yd). They had a rate of fire of about 30 rounds per minute. Victorieuse also received several towed Harvey torpedoes.
Armor
The La Galissonnière-class ships had a complete 150 millimetres (5.9 in) wrought ironWrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
waterline belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
, approximately 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) high laid over 650 millimetres (25.6 in) of wood. The sides of the battery itself were armored with 120 millimetres (4.7 in) of wrought iron backed by 520 millimetres (20.5 in) of wood and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was 120 millimetres (4.7 in) thick. The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by thin iron plates.
Service
Victorieuse was laid down at ToulonToulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
on 5 August 1869 and launched on 18 November 1875. While the exact reason for such prolonged construction time is not known, the budget for the French Navy was cut after the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870–71 and the French dockyards had not been reformed with working practices more suitable for the industrial age. The ship was commissioned for her sea trial
Sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...
s on 12 November 1876 and she was placed in reserve in Toulon after they were completed. She was recommissioned as the flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of the Pacific Squadron on 17 August 1878 under the command of Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
Bergasse du Petit-Thouars. The ship participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands in 1880, which had been conquered by the admiral's uncle Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars
Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars
Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars was a French naval officer important in France's anexation of French Polynesia.He was born at the castle of La Fessardière, near Saumur. His uncle Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars was of the heroes of the Battle of the Nile...
forty years before. Victorieuse returned to Toulon on 23 May 1881.
The ship was recommissioned as the flagship of the China Squadron on 1 December 1881 under the command of Rear Admiral Meyer. She was relieved by her sister La Galissonnière in April 1884. She became flagship of the Levant Squadron after she arrived in France, but was in bad shape and soon placed in reserve at Cherbourg. Victorieuse became the flagship of Rear Admiral Barrera, second-in-command of the Northern Squadron on 10 February 1892. The ship was on summer maneuvers off the Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
n coast in July 1893. Two years later she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Ménard. She was initially condemned in May 1897, but this was reversed so she could convoy torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s to Bizerte
Bizerte
Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...
. That plan was later cancelled and Victorieuse was paid off in 1899, becoming guardship of the outer harbor at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
until finally condemned the following year.