French ship Bretagne (1855)

The Bretagne, painting by Jules Achille Noël, National Maritime Museum, London.
History
France
Builder	Brest arsenal
Laid down	January 1853
Launched	17 February 1855
Commissioned	1855
Decommissioned	1865
In service	1855
Stricken	1880
Fate	Scrapped 1880
General characteristics
Displacement	5,289 tonnes, 6,875 tonnes full charge
Length	81 m (266 ft) (at the water line)
Beam	18.08 m (59.3 ft)
Draught	8.56 m (28.1 ft)
Propulsion	Indret steam engine, 8 boilers, 4,800 shp, 1 propeller
Speed	12.6 knots (23.3 km/h; 14.5 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	1 × 13 metre boat, 1 × 11.5 metre boat, 4 × 10.5 metre boats, 1 × 8 metre boat, 4 × whaleboat, 2 × dinghies
Capacity	up to 1,800 passengers
Complement	1,170 men
Armament	Original: 130 guns lower battery : 18 × "canon de 36" (43 lb shot), 18 × 80-pounder shell gun (223 mm shell) middle battery : 18 × 30-pounder (164 mm shot), 18 × 80-pounder shell gun upper battery : 38 × 30-pounder forecastle : 2 × "canon de 50" (56 lb shot), 18 × 30-pounder carronades (164 mm shot) in 1869 : lower battery: 2 190mm rifled guns canons rayés de 19 cm middle battery: 16 gun 30 n°2, 4 x 160 cm rifled guns canons rayés (mod. 1864), 8 x 160 mm rifled guns (mod. 1860 and 1862), 2x 160 mm muzzle-loading rifled guns, 2 x 140 mm guns Bridge: 2 x 120 mm bronze guns
Armour	timber

The Bretagne was a fast 130-gun three-deck ship of the French Navy, designed by engineer Jules Marielle. Built as a new capital ship meant to improve on the very successful Océan class, while avoiding the weaknesses found on Valmy, she retained most of the Océan's design, and incorporated the philosophy of "fast ship of the line" pioneered by Napoléon, with a rounded stern and a two-cylinder, 8-boiler steam engine allowing her a speed of 13.5 knots. The propeller could be retracted to streamline the hull when sailing under sail only.

Launched in 1855, she was too late to take part in the Crimean War. She was decommissioned in 1865, becoming a schoolship for boys and sailors in Brest. Struck from the Navy lists in 1880, she was broken up that year.