French ironclad Invincible

Portrait of Invincible by Louis Lebreton
History
France
NameInvincible
Ordered4 March 1858
BuilderArsenal de Toulon
Laid down1 May 1858
Launched4 April 1861
CompletedMarch 1862
Stricken12 August 1872
FateScrapped, 1876
General characteristics
Class and typeGloire-class ironclad
Displacement5,650 t (5,560 long tons)
Length77.25 m (253 ft 5 in)
Beam17 m (55 ft 9 in)
Draught8.48 m (27 ft 10 in)
Depth of hold10.67 m (35 ft 0 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Sail planBarquentine rigged
Speed13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range4,000 km (2,500 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph)
Complement570 officers and enlisted men
Armament
Armour

The French ironclad Invincible was the second of the three wooden-hulled Gloire-class ironclads built for the French Navy in 1858–1862. The ships of the Gloire class were classified as armoured frigates because they only had a single gun deck and their traditional disposition of guns arrayed along the length of the hull also meant that they were broadside ironclads. Invincible had an uneventful career and was deployed in North American waters during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The unseasoned timber of her hull rotted quickly and she was condemned in 1872 and scrapped in 1876.