 Villars' sister ship Forfait, date unknown
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Villars |
| Builder | Arsenal de Cherbourg |
| Laid down | 9 July 1875 |
| Launched | 21 August 1879 |
| Commissioned | 1881 |
| In service | 20 January 1882 |
| Stricken | 8 July 1896 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 17 December 1896 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 2,419 t (2,381 long tons) |
| Length | 74.27 m (243 ft 8 in) lwl |
| Beam | 11.6 m (38 ft 1 in) |
| Draft | 5.31 m (17 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Sail plan | Full ship rig |
| Speed | 14.6 knots (27.0 km/h; 16.8 mph) |
| Range | 4,810 nmi (8,910 km; 5,540 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 269 |
| Armament |
|
Villars was the lead ship of the Villars class of unprotected cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1870s. The ships were designed for service in the French colonial empire, and they carried a relatively heavy battery of fifteen 138.6 mm (5.46 in) guns, and could steam at a speed of 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph). Villars was laid down in 1875 and was completed in 1881. She saw significant service in East Asia in the early to mid-1880s during France's campaign to secure a colony in Tonkin (now Vietnam) and the Sino-French War that began as a direct result of France's interference in what Qing China viewed as a traditional subordinate country. During the latter conflict, she saw action at the Battle of Fuzhou, where she assisted in the destruction of three Chinese cruisers, and later participated in the blockade of Formosa. The rest of the ship's career passed relatively uneventfully, and in 1896, she was struck from the naval register and thereafter sold for scrap.