French ironclad Solférino
.jpg) The French ironclad Solférino, of the Magenta class, the only two-decked broadside ironclad battleships ever built.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Namesake | Battle of Solferino |
| Builder | Lorient |
| Laid down | 24 June 1859 |
| Launched | 24 June 1861 |
| Stricken | 1882 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Magenta class broadside ironclad |
| Displacement | 7129 tonnes |
| Length | 85.98m |
| Beam | 17.27m |
| Draught | 8.43m |
| Propulsion | list error: <br /> list (help) Sail 1000HP steam engine, 8 boilers |
| Speed | 12 knots |
| Endurance | 3 months of food, 740 tonnes of coal |
| Complement | 681 |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) As built 16x55pdr Smoothbore guns; 34x6.4in BLM 1860 guns; 2x8.8in RML howitzers From 1868 14×9.4in(240mm) BLM 1864/ M1866 guns |
| Armour | Wrought iron belt 4.7in |
Solférino was a broadside ironclad warship of the French Navy, the second unit of the Magenta class, designed by Dupuy de Lôme and launched in 1861. She was named in honour of the Battle of Solferino.
These two ironclads were the only two-decked broadside ironclad battleships ever built. They were also the first ships in the world to be equipped with a spur ram. They were somewhat of an enlarged version of the Gloire type armoured frigate, or the result of the same principle applied to a full-scale ship of the line.
References
- "Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815-1905", Conway'S history of the ship, Chartwell Books Inc., ISBN 0-7858-1413-2
- Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to French ironclad Solférino (1861).
- Plans of the Solférino (large TIF files) from the Atlas du génie maritime of the Service historique de la Défense" ("Historical services of the ministry of Defence")