 Furieux in her original configuration
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Tonnant |
| Succeeded by | Jemmapes class |
| History | |
 France | |
| Name | Furieux |
| Builder | Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 15 June 1875 |
| Launched | 21 July 1883 |
| Commissioned | 15 February 1890 |
| Decommissioned | 2 March 1913 |
| Stricken | 27 November 1913 |
| Fate | Foundered in Brest, c. 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 5,925 long tons (6,020 t) |
| Length | 72.54 m (238 ft) pp |
| Beam | 17.83 m (58 ft 6 in) |
| Draft | 7.09 m (23 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Complement | 235 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
| General characteristics (1902–1904 refit) | |
| Displacement | 5,683 long tons (5,774 t) |
| Draft | 6.94 m (22 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor | Gun turrets: 203 mm (8 in) |
Furieux was an ironclad coastal defense ship built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and 1880s. She was ordered under the fleet plan of 1872 that was intended to strengthen the French fleet after the Franco-Prussian War. Originally intended to be similar to the Tonnerre class, Furieux was re-designed after the German Sachsen-class ironclads had begun construction, as the earlier French coastal defense ships were too weak to defeat the Sachsens. Instead of carrying her main armament of two guns in a single gun turret like Tonnerre and other French coastal defense ships, Furieux mounted a pair of guns in two barbettes that allowed her to fire one ahead or astern at any angle. Her guns were significantly larger than the earlier vessels as well, increasing from the 270 mm (10.6 in) guns of her predecessors to 340 mm (13.4 in) weapons. Her design suffered from several problems, including insufficient freeboard and poor stability, both of which reduced her ability to operate in open water. She was also badly overweight, which submerged her belt armor, greatly reducing her defensive characteristics.
Furieux served in the Northern Division (later Squadron) in the English Channel for the duration of her career, the active period of which was brief. She was initially assigned as a guard ship for the port of Cherbourg in 2nd reserve. In 1890, she was commissioned for service with the Northern Division and in early 1891, she embarked on a cruise to Spanish waters with the rest of the division. Later that year, in July and August, the ships made a longer voyage to Russia in anticipation of the signing of the Franco-Russian Alliance in August. She remained in active service through 1895, but saw little activity of note during this period. Throughout the 1890s, the French Navy considered multiple proposals to rebuild the ship to correct her deficiencies, but no work was done until 1902, when she received new, lighter guns, new engines and water-tube boilers, and increased armor protection for her conning tower.
Work was completed by 1904, but she saw little activity afterward apart from sea trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications. She was ultimately struck from the naval register in November 1913. The Navy intended to dismantle the ship in Brest, but the start of World War I in August 1914 interrupted all non-essential work. Some limited scrapping was carried out in 1917 and 1918, but by 1920, when the French government was prepared to sell the ship, it was discovered she had sunk at her mooring. The Navy deemed it too expensive to raise the wreck and so offered her for sale in situ, but after a series of attempts in the 1920s and early 1930s, no firm bought the salvage rights. The wreck appears to still be on the bottom of Brest's harbor.