French ironclad Redoutable

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Redoutable.
Redoutable in her original configuration
History
France
NameRedoutable
BuilderArsenal de Lorient[1]
Laid down
  • December 1872[2]
  • 18 July 1873[1]
Launched18 September 1876.[1][2]
Commissioned
  • 22 November 1878 for trials.[2]
  • 31 December 1878 for service.[2]
  • 8 February 1879[1]
Stricken9 March 1910[1][3]
Fate
  • Sold 17 August 1911 for 100,000 francs.[3] 1912 broken up at Saigon.[3]
  • Sold for demolition at Saigon 1913[1]
General characteristics
TypeCentral-battery ironclad
Displacement
Length
  • 95 m (311 ft 8 in) between perpendiculars[5]
  • 100.7 m (330 ft 5 in) total[5]
Beam19.76 m (64 ft 10 in)[5]
Draft7.8 m (26 ft)[5]
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engines
Sail plan
  • Square rig, sail area 2,033 square metres (21,880 sq ft)[8]
  • 2,700 square metres (29,000 sq ft).[1]
Speed14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) max speed on trials[6]
Range2,840 nautical miles at 10 knots (5,260 km at 19 km/h)[7]
Complement709[9]
Armament
  • 7 × 27cm Model 1875[10]
  • 6 × 14cm[11] Model 1870[12]
  • 1 × 47mm[11]
  • 12 × 37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannons[11]
  • 4 × torpedo launchers[11]
Armour
  • Belt: 350 mm (13.8 in)
  • Battery: 240–300 mm (9.4–11.8 in)
  • Deck: 45–60 mm (1.8–2.4 in)

Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.[13] She was preceded by the Colbert-class ironclads and was succeeded by Dévastation-class.

Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities[citation needed], using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.

All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875–1876.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Roche, Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française, p417.
  2. ^ a b c d Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
  3. ^ a b c Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p22.
  4. ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18 & 38.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
  5. ^ a b c d Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p21.
  6. ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p26.
  7. ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p35.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p42.
  8. ^ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
  9. ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p38-9.
  10. ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p28.
  11. ^ a b c d Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p40.
  12. ^ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part II, Warship International, No 2, 1994, p126.
  13. ^ Conway Marine, 'Steam, Steel, and Shellfire"