Alma-class ironclad

The Alma-class ironcladsIronclad is the all-encompassing term for armored warships of this period. Armored corvettes were originally designed for the same role as traditional wooden corvettes, but this rapidly changed as the size and expense of these ships caused them to be used as second-class armored ships. were designed by Henri Dupuy de Lôme as improved versions of the armored corvette {{ship|French ironclad|Belliqueuse||2}} suitable for foreign deployments. Unlike their predecessor the ships were true central battery ironclads as they were fitted with armored transverse bulkheads.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 26 The original plan for these ships was to have a two-deck battery with four {{convert|194|mm|in|adj=on|sp=us}} guns on the battery deck and four {{convert|164|mm|in|adj=on|sp=us}} guns mounted above them on the upper deck, one gun at each corner of the battery. This design was changed to substitute four barbettes for the upper battery, but the addition of armored bulkheads proved to be very heavy and the rear pair of barbettes had to be deleted to save weight. In partial compensation the 164-millimeter guns in the remaining forward barbettes were replaced by an additional pair of 194-millimeter guns. Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram.Gardiner, p. 302

The ships were built from the same general plan, but differed amongst themselves. They measured {{convert|68.75|-|69.03|m|ftin|sp=us}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|13.94|-|14.13|m|ftin|sp=us}}. The ships had a mean draft of {{convert|6.26|-|6.66|m|ftin|sp=us}} and displaced {{convert|3569|-|3889|t|LT|sp=us|lk=on}}. Their crew numbered 316 officers and men.

The Alma-class ships had a single horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller. Their engine was powered by four oval boilers. On sea trials the engine produced between {{convert|1585|-|1896|ihp|lk=on}} and the ships reached {{convert|10.48|-|11.99|kn|lk=in}}. Unlike the single funnels of the others, {{ship|French ironclad|Jeanne d'Arc||2}} and {{ship|French ironclad|Thétis||2}} had two funnels, mounted side by side. The ships carried {{convert|250|MT|LT}} of coal which allowed the ship to steam for {{convert|1310|-|1620|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}. They were barque-rigged with three masts and had a sail area between {{convert|1338|-|1454|sqm|sqft|sp=us}}.

The ships mounted four of their 194-millimeter Modèle 1864 breech-loading guns in the central battery on the battery deck. The other two 194-millimeter guns were mounted in barbettes on the upper deck, sponsoned out over the sides of the ship. The four {{convert|120|mm|in|adj=on|sp=us}} guns were also mounted on the upper deck. {{ship|French ironclad|Alma||2}} is the only ship positively known to have exchanged her 194 mm guns for newer Modèle 1870 guns.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac, p. 28 The armor-piercing shell of the 20-caliber Mle 1870 gun weighed {{convert|165.3|lb|kg|0}} while the gun itself weighed {{convert|7.83|LT|t}}. The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity of {{convert|1739|ft/s|m/s|abbr=on}} and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal {{convert|12.5|in}} of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.Brassey, p. 477

The Alma-class ships had a complete {{convert|150|mm|in|sp=us|1|adj=on}} wrought iron waterline belt, approximately {{convert|2.4|m|ft|sp=us|1}} high. The sides of the battery itself were armored with {{convert|120|mm|in|sp=us|1}} of wrought iron and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was {{convert|100|mm|in|sp=us}} thick, backed by {{convert|240|mm|in|sp=us}} of wood.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 27 The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by {{convert|15|mm|in|adj=on|1|sp=us}} iron plates.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 Thétis, Jeanne d'Arc and Armide were assigned to the Northern Squadron that attempted to blockade Prussian ports on the Baltic until ordered to return to Cherbourg on 16 September 1870. Montcalm, Atalante, and Reine Blanche cruised the North Sea and Montcalm later captured the Prussian Barque Union and watched a Prussian corvette in Portuguese waters.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1975, pp. 29–30de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 30 Alma was en route to the Far East when the war began and she blockaded a pair of Prussian corvettes in Yokohama harbor once she arrived at Japan.

After the end of the war many of the ships were placed in reserve or sent to foreign stations, often as the flagship. During the Third Carlist War of 1872–76 Thétis, Reine Blanche and Jeanne d'Arc spent time in Spanish waters where they could protect French citizens and interests.{{cite book|last1=Forbes|first1=Archibald|last2=Henty|first2=George Alfred|authorlink2=G. A. Henty|last3=Griffiths|first3=Arthur|title=Battles of the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RScFAAAAIAAJ|volume=1|year=1896|publisher=Cassell|location=London|pages=706–07}}{{cite book|last=Ward|first=William John|title=House of Commons Papers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMTAAAAYAAJ&q=Jeanne%20d'Arc%20%20ironclad&pg=RA2-PA22|volume=76|year=1874|publisher=Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons|location=London}} In 1875, the latter ship rammed and sank the dispatch vessel Forfait.{{cite journal|last=Rockwell|first=Charles|year=1892|title=The Ram Question|journal=The United Service|publisher=L. R. Hamersly|location=Philadelphia|volume=VIII-New Series|issue=August|page=146|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6qgAAAAMAAJ&q=reine+blanche+collision&pg=PA146}} On 3 July 1877 Thétis rammed Reine Blanche who had to be run ashore to prevent her from sinking.

Further abroad Reine Blanche and Alma bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax in July 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia.{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=H. W.|title=Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare From 1855 to 1895|volume=2|year=1896|publisher=Little, Brown|location=Boston|pages=2–4}} Atalante participated in the Battle of Thuận An in August 1883. This was an attack by the French on the forts defending the mouth of the Perfume River, leading to the Vietnamese capital of Huế in an attempt to intimidate the Vietnamese government.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 29 During the Sino-French War of 1884–85 the ship was in Huế in early September 1884,{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1884/09/07/archives/french-forces-resting-keelung-left-alone-until-reinforcements.html|title=French Forces Resting|date=7 September 1884|work=New York Times|access-date=12 July 2010|location=New York}} but she carried Admiral Amédée Courbet to Keelung, Taiwan on 23 September.

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• {{cite book|last=Brassey|first=Thomas|authorlink=Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey|title=The Naval Annual 1887|url=https://archive.org/details/brasseysannual00brasgoog|year=1888|publisher=J. Griffin|location=Portsmouth, England}}
• {{cite journal|last=de Balincourt|first=Captain|author2=Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain|year=1976|title=The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Corvettes|journal=F.P.D.S. Newsletter|publisher=F.P.D.S.|location=Akron, Ohio|volume=IV|issue=4|pages=26–32 |oclc=41554533}}
• {{cite journal|last=de Balincourt|first=Captain|author2=Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain|year=1975|title=The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates|journal=F.P.D.S. Newsletter|publisher=F.P.D.S.|location=Akron, Ohio|volume=III|issue=4|pages=26–30 |oclc=41554533}}
• {{cite book|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|editor=Gardiner, Robert|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=Greenwich|year=1979|isbn=0-8317-0302-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2}}
• {{cite book

|last=Roberts

|first=Stephen

|title=French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914

|year=2021

|location=Barnsley

|publisher=Seaforth

|isbn=978-1-5267-4533-0

|ref={{sfnref|Roberts}}

}}

{{Alma class ironclad}}

{{French ironclads}}

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Category:Ships built in France

Category:Corvettes of France

Category:Ship classes of the French Navy