 Roland
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Lapérouse class |
| Succeeded by | Iphigénie |
| Completed | 4 |
| 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 | 4,800 to 4,810 nmi (8,890 to 8,910 km; 5,520 to 5,540 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 269 |
| Armament |
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The Villars class of unprotected cruisers was a group of four ships built for the French Navy in the mid-1870s and early 1880s. The class comprised Villars, Forfait, Magon, and Roland. They were designed as part of a naval construction program aimed at modernizing the French fleet in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, and were intended to serve overseas in the French colonial empire. As such, they were fitted with a full-ship rig to allow them to cruise for extended periods of time without burning coal for their steam engine, and they carried a relatively heavy armament of fifteen 138.6 mm (5.46 in) guns.
Villars and Forfait were both involved in attempts to expand the French empire in the mid-1880s, in Southeast Asia and Madagascar, respectively. Villars saw action during the Sino-French War that resulted from France's actions in Asia; she took part in the Keelung campaign, the Battle of Fuzhou, and the blockade of Formosa during the war. Forfait participated in the First Madagascar expedition that failed to seize control of the island. Roland and Magon were both sent to reinforce French forces during the Sino-French War, but the conflict had ended by the time they arrived. The ships served for another decade, frequently with the North Atlantic Squadron, and by the late 1890s, all four had been removed from active service. Villars, Roland, and Magon were quickly scrapped. Only Forfait survived into the 1900s, being used as a storage hulk until she was broken up in 1920.