French ship Saint Louis (1854)
{{short description|Ship of the line of the French Navy}}
{{other ships|French ship Saint Louis|French ship Achille}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Suffren-IMG 8647.jpg |Ship caption=1/20th scale model of Suffren, lead ship of Saint Louis's class, on display at the Musée national de la Marine }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=France |Ship flag=Image:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg |Ship name=Saint Louis |Ship namesake=Louis IX of France |Ship owner= |Ship operator= |Ship registry= |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Brest |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down=13 July 1848 |Ship launched=26 April 1853 |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service=8 April 1854 |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed=From Achille, 2 April 1850 |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck=26 November 1894 |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Scrapped, 1895 |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= {{sclass|Donawerth|ship of the line}} | Ship displacement= {{cvt|4231|t|LT|lk=on}} | Ship length= {{cvt|60.5|m|ftin}} (gun deck) | Ship beam = {{cvt|16.28|m|ftin}} | Ship depth={{cvt|8.05|m|ftin}} |Ship draught= {{cvt|8.2|m|ftin}}= | Ship propulsion=1 × shaft; 1 × Horizontal-return connecting rod-steam engine | Ship power={{cvt|1175|ihp|PS kW|lk=on}} | Ship speed={{convert|9|kn|lk=in}} |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship |Ship range= |Ship complement=814 |Ship armament=*80 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns
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Saint Louis was a steam-powered, third-rate, 80 gun {{sclass|Donawerth|ship of the line}} built for the French Navy during the 1850s. She had been laid down as a {{sclass|Suffren|ship of the line|0}} sailing ship of the line, but remained on the stocks until she was chosen for conversion to steam power in 1854. The ship played a minor role in the Crimean War of 1854–1855.
Description
Saint Louis had an length of {{convert|60.5|m|ftin}} at the gun deck a beam of {{convert|16.28|m|ftin}} and a depth of hold of {{convert|8.05|m|ftin}}. The ship displaced {{convert|4231|t|LT|lk=on}} and had a mean draught of {{convert|7.4|m|ftin}}. Her crew numbered 814 officers and ratings. She was powered by a horizontal-return connecting rod-steam engine that drove the single propeller shaft. The engine, built by Mazeline, was rated at 450 nominal horsepower and produced {{convert|1411|ihp|PS kW|lk=on}}. During her sea trials, Saint Louis had a speed of {{convert|9.9|kn|lk=in}} under steam. She was fitted with three masts and ship rigged like the 80-gun sailing ships of the line in service.Winfield & Roberts, p. 73
The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of Donawerth consisted of sixteen 36-pounder long guns and fourteen {{cvt|22|cm|1}} Paixhans guns on the lower gun deck. On the upper gundeck were twenty-four 30-pound short guns. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were a total of two {{cvt|16|cm}} rifled guns and eighteen 30-pounder carronades.
Construction and career
Saint Louis had been laid down as a 90-gun 3rd-rank {{sclass|Suffren|ship of the line|2}} on 13 July 1848 at the Arsenal de Brest under the name of Achille, but construction was suspended. The ship was renamed Saint Worth on 2 April 1850. Her incomplete hull was kept in a covered slipway until she was launched on 25 April 1854. The ship was commissioned on 20 May 1854 and completed in June.Winfield & Roberts, p. 66 Saint Louis served as a troopship during the Crimean War. In July 1854, she ran aground at Kiel, Prussia. She was refloated on 26 July.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Prussia |date=7 August 1854 |page=7 |issue=21813 |column=D-E }}
The ship's conversion into a steam-powered ship was ordered on 19 October 1854, although work did not begin until 25 April 1857 at the Arsenal de Cherbourg. Saint Louis was re-launched on 2 November 1857, recommissioned on 1 April 1858 and completed later that month. She bombed the Tétouan forts on 20 November 1859, and ferried troops in the French intervention in Mexico in 1862–1863. She was renamed Cacique in 1881 and served as a gunnery training ship, and was eventually broken up in 1895.Roche, vol.1, p. 397
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-84832-204-2}}
- {{Cite book|first=Jean-Michel |last=Roche |year=2005 |title=Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870 |isbn=978-2-9525917-0-6 |oclc=165892922 |page=397|publisher=Roche }}
{{1854 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Louis (1854)}}
Category:Ships of the line of the French Navy
Category:Ships built in France
Category:Crimean War naval ships of France