French ironclad Suffren

Design and description

The Océan-class ironclads were designed by Henri Dupuy de Lôme as an improved version of the s. The ships were central battery ironclads, with the armament concentrated amidships. For the first time in a French ironclad three watertight iron bulkheads were fitted in the hull.

The ship measured 87.73 m overall, with a beam of 17.52 m. Suffren had a maximum draft of 9.09 m and displaced 7800 t. Her crew numbered between 750 and 778 officers and men. The metacentric height of the ship was very low, between 1.7 -.

Propulsion

The Océan-class ships had one horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engine driving a single propeller. Their engines were powered by eight oval boilers. On sea trials the engine produced 4100 ihp and Suffren reached 14.3 kn. She carried 650 MT of coal which allowed her to steam for approximately 3000 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. The Océan-class ships were barque or barquentine-rigged with three masts and had a sail area around 2000 sqm.

Armament

These ships had their main armament mounted in four barbettes on the upper deck, one gun at each corner of the battery, with the remaining guns on the battery deck below the barbettes. Suffrens armament was upgraded, before she commissioned, to four 274 mm guns in the barbettes, and on the battery deck, four 240 mm guns, six 138 mm guns and one 120 mm gun. By 1885, all of the 138-millimeter guns were replaced by six 120-millimeter guns.

The 18-caliber 274-millimeter Modéle 1870 gun fired an armor-piercing, 476.2 lb shell while the gun itself weighed 22.84 LT. The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity of 1424 ft/s and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 14.3 in of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The armor-piercing shell of the 19-caliber 240-millmeter Modele 1870 gun weighed 317.5 lb while the gun itself weighed 15.41 LT. It had a muzzle velocity of 1624 ft/s and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal 14.4 in of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The 138-millimeter gun was 21 calibers long and weighed 2.63 LT. It fired a 61.7 lb explosive shell that had a muzzle velocity of 1529 ft/s. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.

At some point the ship received a dozen 37 mm Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving guns. The hull was not recessed to enable any of the guns on the battery deck to fire forward or aft. However, the guns mounted in the barbettes sponsoned out over the sides of the hull did have some ability to fire fore and aft.

Late in the ship's career, four above-water 356 mm torpedo tubes were added.

Armor

The Ocean-class ships had a complete 178 - wrought iron waterline belt. The sides of the battery itself were armored with 160 mm of wrought iron. The barbette armor was 150 mm thick. The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by 15 mm iron plates. Gardiner says that the barbette armor was later removed to improve their stability, but this is not confirmed by any other source.

Service

Suffren was laid down at Cherbourg in July 1866, and was completed on 5 August. She was placed into reserve after her completion and was not commissioned until 1 March 1876 when she became flagship of the Cherbourg Division. Throughout her career Suffren was often used as a flagship because of her spacious admiral's quarters.

On 1 September 1880 Suffren was reduced to reserve in 1881 and not recommissioned until 23 August 1884 when she was assigned to the Northern Squadron. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron about 1888 and remained there until paid off in 1895 and condemned in 1897.

Footnotes

References

References

1. de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1975, p. 26
2. Like most ironclads of their era, they were equipped with a metal-reinforced [[Naval ram
3. Silverstone, p. 62
4. Brassey, p. 477
5. McCarthy, Justin Huntly. (2006). "England Under Gladstone, 1880–1884". Elibron Classics.