Invincible (Ship)

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Career (France) French Navy Ensign
Name: Invincible
Ordered: 4 March 1858
Builder: Toulon, France
Laid down: May 1858
Launched: 4 April 1861
Commissioned: March 1862
Decommissioned: 1872
General characteristics
Class and type: Gloire Class Ironclad
Displacement: 5,630 tonnes
Length: 77.8 m
Beam: 17 m
Draught: 8.4 m
Propulsion: Sail (1100 m²)
single shaft HRCR (horizontal return), 2,500 hp (1.9MW) steam engine, 8 oval boilers
Speed: 13 knots
Range: 665 tonnes of coal
Complement: 570
Armament:

36 × 6.4in (163 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders model (1858/60)
After 1868

8 × 9.4in (239 mm) BL model 1864,
6 × 7.6in (193 mm) BL model 1866
Armour: 110 to 119 mm iron plates

The French Navy's Invincible was a sister ship to the La Gloire, the world's first ocean-going ironclad battleship. It was launched on 4 April 1861. The Gloire class were designed by the French naval architect Dupuy de Lôme. Invincible was the second of the class to be completed.

Invincible's original battery proved to be ineffective against armour, and was replaced in 1868 with breech loaders. Her poor construction, a result of using poor quality timbers, saw her stricken in 1872, after less than 10 years' service.


[edit] References

  • Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5