![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/French_ironclad_Redoutable_NH_74893.jpeg/300px-French_ironclad_Redoutable_NH_74893.jpeg) Redoutable in her original configuration
|
History |
France |
Name | Redoutable |
Builder | Arsenal de Lorient[1] |
Laid down |
- December 1872[2]
- 18 July 1873[1]
|
Launched | 18 September 1876.[1][2] |
Commissioned |
- 22 November 1878 for trials.[2]
- 31 December 1878 for service.[2]
- 8 February 1879[1]
|
Stricken | 9 March 1910[1][3] |
Fate |
- Sold 17 August 1911 for 100,000 francs.[3] 1912 broken up at Saigon.[3]
- Sold for demolition at Saigon 1913[1]
|
General characteristics |
Type | Central-battery ironclad |
Displacement | |
Length |
- 95 m (311 ft 8 in) between perpendiculars[6]
- 100.7 m (330 ft 5 in) total[6]
|
Beam | 19.76 m (64 ft 10 in)[6] |
Draft | 7.8 m (26 ft)[6] |
Installed power | |
Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engines |
Sail plan |
- Square rig, sail area 2,033 square metres (21,880 sq ft)[7]
- 2,700 square metres (29,000 sq ft).[1]
|
Speed | 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) max speed on trials[12] |
Range | 2,840 nautical miles at 10 knots (5,260 km at 19 km/h)[4] |
Complement | 709[8] |
Armament |
- 7 × 27cm Model 1875[9]
- 6 × 14cm[10] Model 1870[11]
- 1 × 47mm[10]
- 12 × 37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannons[10]
- 4 × torpedo launchers[10]
|
Armour |
- Belt: 350 mm (13.8 in)
- Battery: 240–300 mm (9.4–11.8 in)
- Deck: 45–60 mm (1.8–2.4 in)
|
Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.[13] She was preceded by the Colbert-class ironclads and was succeeded by Dévastation-class.
Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities[citation needed], using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.
All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875–1876.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Roche, Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française, p417.
- ^ a b c d Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
- ^ a b c Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p22.
- ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p35.
- Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p42.
- ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18 & 38.
- Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
- ^ a b c d Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
- Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p21.
- ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
- ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p38-9.
- ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p28.
- ^ a b c d Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p40.
- ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part II, Warship International, No 2, 1994, p126.
- ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p26.
- ^ Conway Marine, 'Steam, Steel, and Shellfire"