 Duguesclin in port, date unknown
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Bayard class |
| Succeeded by | Terrible class |
| Built | 1878–1886 |
| In commission | 1885–1904 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Scrapped | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ironclad warship |
| Displacement | 6,207.6 t (6,109.6 long tons; 6,842.7 short tons) |
| Length | 84.7 m (277 ft 11 in) loa |
| Beam | 17.45 m (57 ft) |
| Draft | 7.39 m (24 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
| Range | 2,380.5 nmi (4,408.7 km; 2,739.4 mi) at 12.8 knots (23.7 km/h; 14.7 mph) |
| Crew |
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| Armament |
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| Armor |
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The Vauban class, sometimes referred to as the Duguesclin class, was a pair of two ironclad barbette ships built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and 1880s. The class consisted of Vauban, the lead ship, and Duguesclin. They were based on the ironclad Amiral Duperré, adopting the same general arrangement, but were scaled down in size. They were intended for use overseas in the French colonial empire, and as such, they retained a sailing rig for long-range cruising and copper sheathing for their hulls to protect them when they would be unable to be dry-docked regularly. They carried a main battery of four 240 mm (9.4 in) guns that were mounted in individual barbettes; two were in sponsons forward, abreast of the conning tower, and the other two were on the centerline aft.
Despite the Navy's intention to use them overseas, both members of the class served with the Mediterranean Squadron for the majority of their careers, from the 1880s to the mid-1890s. They were occupied with peacetime training exercises, and in 1893, they were reduced to the Reserve Division of the squadron. They were laid up after 1895, and Duguesclin saw no further active service, being struck from the naval register in 1904 and sold to ship breakers the following year. Vauban was recommissioned in 1898 for a tour in French Indochina, briefly serving as a divisional flagship, before being stationed in Saigon from 1899 to 1905. After being struck from the register that year, she served as a depot ship, first for torpedo boats and then for submarines from 1905 to 1914, before ultimately being sold in 1919.