French ironclad Atalante

Design and description

The sIronclad 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 as improved versions of the armored corvette suitable for foreign deployments. Unlike their predecessor the Alma-class ships were true central battery ironclads as they were fitted with armored transverse bulkheads. Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram.

Atalante measured 68.78 m between perpendiculars, with a beam of 14.2 m. She had a mean draft of 6.56 m and displaced 3825 t. Her crew numbered 316 officers and men.

Propulsion

The ship had a single horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller. Her engine was powered by four oval boilers. On sea trials the engine produced 1640 ihp and the ship reached 11.56 kn. Atalante carried 250 MT of coal which allowed the ship to steam for 1460 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. She was barque-rigged and had a sail area of 1338 sqm.

Armament

Atalante mounted her four 194 mm 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 120 mm guns were also mounted on the upper deck.

Armor

Atalante had a complete 150 mm wrought iron waterline belt, approximately 2.4 m high. The sides of the battery itself were armored with 120 mm of wrought iron and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was 100 mm thick, backed by 240 mm of wood. The unarmored portions of her sides were protected by 15 mm iron plates.

Service

Atalante was laid down at Cherbourg in June 1865 and launched on 12 April 1867. Her sea trials began on 1 April 1869 and she joined the reserve at Brest on 11 July 1869. Atalante was commissioned on 23 February 1870 and was initially assigned to the Evolutionary Squadron before transferring to the Northern Squadron in July 1870 at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. The squadron was ordered to lift its blockade of the Prussian North Sea ports on 16 September and return to Cherbourg. Atalante went back into reserve in November 1870, but she was recommissioned the following year.

She was named as the flagship of the Pacific Squadron on 1 July 1872 under command of Rear Admiral Baron Roussin. On 14 August Atalante sailed from Lorient for the Pacific. On 8 August 1873, Atalante was put into the Fitzroy Dock at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, Australia. At the time she was the largest vessel to be drydocked in the harbour and the first ironclad to be docked in the Southern hemisphere.

She returned on 27 February 1874 where she placed into reserve but was recommissioned on 28 December 1875 as the flagship of the China Squadron under Rear Admiral Veron. She departed Lorient on 10 January 1876, but returned on 16 May 1878. The ship spent the next four years in reserve before being recommissioned on 3 July 1882 for service with the Cochinchina Division (division navale de Cochinchine).

Atalante was transferred to the new Tonkin Coast Division () when it was formed in 1883. During 18–21 August 1883 she participated in the Battle of Thuận An. 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. Atalante was assigned to bombard the North Fort by the French commander, Vice Admiral Amédée Courbet. After two days of bombardment a landing party from the ship captured the fort.

The ship was assigned to the Far East Squadron (escadre de l'Extrême-Orient) under Admiral Courbet when it was formed by the amalgamation of the Tonkin Coast and Far Eastern Divisions in June 1884 in preparation for the Sino-French War of 1884–85. but she carried Admiral Courbet to Keelung on 23 September. The ship was paid off into reserve in Saigon in 1885 and condemned two years later. She fell into such a state of disrepair that "she foundered one night and gradually sank into the mud."

Notes

Footnotes

References

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References

1. de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 26
2. Gardiner, p. 302
3. She may have exchanged her Mle 1864 guns for Mle 1870 guns. The [[Armor-piercing shot and shell. armor-piercing]] shell of the 20-[[caliber (artillery). 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. 12.5. in of [[wrought iron]] armour at the muzzle. The guns could fire both [[Round shot. solid shot]] and [[Shell (projectile). explosive shells]].Brassey, p. 477
4. de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 27
5. de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1975, pp. 29–30
6. de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 29
7. (9 August 1873). "Docking of the Atalante". The Sydney Morning Herald.
8. Berrong, Richard M.. (2003). "In Love With a Handsome Sailor: The Emergence of Gay Identity and the Novels of Pierre Loti". University of Toronto Press.