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Straight walls of an arsenal model of Suffren, with the lower long 30-pounder battery, the upper short 30-pounder battery, and the 30-pounder carronades on the deck
 Inflexible as a boys' school
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Suffren |
| Builders | Toulon, Brest |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Bucentaure class ship of the line |
| Succeeded by | Hercule class |
| Completed | 14 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Suffren class ship of the line |
| Displacement | 4,070 tonnes |
| Length | 60.50 metres |
| Beam | 16.28 metres |
| Draught | 7.40 metres |
| Propulsion | 3,114 m2 of sails |
| Complement | 810 to 846 men |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | 6.97 cm of timber |
The Suffren class was a late type of 90-gun ships of the line of the French Navy.
The design was selected on 30 January 1824 by the Commission de Paris, an appointed Commission comprising Jean-Marguerite Tupinier, Jacques-Noël Sané, Pierre Rolland, Pierre Lair and Jean Lamorinière. Intended as successors of the 80-gun Bucentaure class and as the third of four ranks of ships of the line,[1] they introduced the innovation of having straight walls, instead of the tumblehome design that had prevailed until then; this tended to heighten the ships' centre of gravity, but provided much more room for equipment in the upper decks. Stability issues were fixed with underwater stabilisers.
Only the first two, Suffren and Inflexible, retained the original design all through their career; the others were converted to steam and sail during their construction.[2]
Design
- ^ Les vaisseaux de la commission de Paris (1824), Nicolas Mioque
- ^ 80/90-guns ships-of-the-line Archived 2008-01-20 at the Wayback Machine