Suffren-class ship of the line

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|Ship image=03-inflexible.jpg

|Ship caption=Inflexible as a boys' school

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{{Infobox ship class overview

|Name=Suffren

|Builders=Toulon, Brest

|Operators={{Navy|FRA}}

|Class before=Bucentaure class ship of the line

|Class after=Hercule class

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|Total ships completed=14

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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|Ship class=Suffren class ship of the line

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|Ship displacement=4,070 tonnes

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|Ship length=60.50 metres

|Ship beam=16.28 metres

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|Ship draught=7.40 metres

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|Ship propulsion=3,114 m² of sails

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|Ship complement=810 to 846 men

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|Ship armament=*1824-1839:

30 × 30-pounder long guns on lower deck
32 × 30-pounder short guns on middle deck
24 × 30-pounder carronades and 4 × 18-pounders on upper decks
1839-1840
26 × 30-pounder long guns and 4 × 22cm Paixhans guns on lower deck
32 × 30-pounder short guns on middle deck
24 × 30-pounder carronades and 4 × 16 cm Paixhans guns on upper decks

|Ship armour=6.97 cm of timber

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The Suffren class was a late type of 90-gun ships of the line of the French Navy.

The design was selected on 30 January 1824 by the Commission de Paris, an appointed Commission comprising Jean-Marguerite Tupinier, Jacques-Noël Sané, Pierre Rolland, Pierre Lair and Jean Lamorinière. Intended as successors of the 80-gun Bucentaure class and as the third of four ranks of ships of the line,[https://troisponts.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/les-vaisseaux-de-la-commission-de-paris-1824/ Les vaisseaux de la commission de Paris (1824)], Nicolas Mioque they introduced the innovation of having straight walls, instead of the tumblehome design that had prevailed until then; this tended to heighten the ships' centre of gravity, but provided much more room for equipment in the upper decks. Stability issues were fixed with underwater stabilisers.

Only the first two, Suffren and Inflexible, retained the original design all through their career; the others were converted to steam and sail during their construction.[http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/fs_v_V2.html 80/90-guns ships-of-the-line] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120233101/http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/fs_v_V2.html |date=2008-01-20 }}

{{Gallery

|title=Design

|align=center

|File:Suffren-IMG 8653.JPG|Straight walls of an arsenal model of Suffren, with the lower long 30-pounder battery, the upper short 30-pounder battery, and the 30-pounder carronades on the deck

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