French ironclad Redoutable

Redoutable in 1889
History
France
Name: Redoubtable
Builder: Arsenal de Lorient[1]
Laid down:
  • December 1872[2]
  • 18 July 1873[1]
Launched: 18 September 1876.[1][2]
Commissioned:
  • 22 November 1878 for trials.[2]
  • 31 December 1878 for service.[2]
  • 8 February 1879[1]
Struck: 9 March 1910[1][3]
Fate:
  • Sold 17 August 1911 for 100,000 francs.[3] 1912 broken up at Saigon.[3]
  • Sold for demolition at Saigon 1913[1]
General characteristics
Type: Central-battery ironclad
Displacement:
Length:
  • 95 m (311 ft 8 in) between perpendiculars[5]
  • 100.7 m (330 ft 5 in) total[5]
Beam: 19.76 m (64 ft 10 in)[5]
Draft: 7.8 m (26 ft)[5]
Installed power:
Propulsion: 2 shafts, 2 horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engines
Sail plan:
  • Square rig, sail area 2,033 square metres (21,880 sq ft)[6]
  • 2,700 square metres (29,000 sq ft).[1]
Speed: 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h; 16.7 mph) max speed on trials[7]
Range: 2,840 nautical miles at 10 knots (5,260 km at 19 km/h)[8]
Complement: 709[9]
Armament:
  • 7 × 27cm Model 1875[10]
  • 6 × 14cm[11] Model 1870[12]
  • 1 × 47mm[11]
  • 12 × 37mm Hotchkiss revolving cannons[11]
  • 4 × torpedo launchers[11]
Armour:
  • Belt: 350 mm (13.8 in)
  • Battery: 240–300 mm (9.4–11.8 in)
  • Deck: 45–60 mm (1.8–2.4 in)

Redoutable was a central battery and barbette ship of the French Navy. She was the first warship in the world to use steel as the principal building material.[13] She was preceded by the Colbert-class ironclads.

Compared to iron, steel allowed for greater structural strength for a lower weight. France was the first country to manufacture steel in large quantities, using the Siemens process. At that time, steel plates still had some defects, and the outer bottom plating of the ship was made of wrought iron.

All-steel warships were later built by the Royal Navy, with the dispatch vessels Iris and Mercury, laid down in 1875-1876.

Construction

Contemporary description in Scientific American

Crew

Full complement: 30 officers + 679 ratings.[9]

Trials or 1st category reserve: 8 officers + 371 ratings.[9]

2nd category reserve: 5 officers + 139 ratings.[9]

3rd category reserve: 0 officers + 27 ratings.[9]

Service

Redoutable formed part of the French Mediterranean squadron.

Redoutable was present during the negotiation of the Boxer Protocol, a treaty signed on 7 September 1901 with China.

Commanding officers of the Redoutable

Date Commanding Officer
1879 Captain Rallier[15]
1881 Captain Behic[15]
1883 Captain de Boissondy[15]
1885 Captain de Slane[15]
1887 Captain de Libran[15]
1889 Captain Dieulouard[15]
1892 Captain Chateauminois[15]
1894 Captain Billard[15]
1896 Captain Mallarmé[15]
5 September 1898 Captain Esmez[15]
21 July 1900 Captain Neny[15]
3 December 1901 Captain Duroch[15]
15 October 1903 Captain Poidloue[15]
1906 Captain Passerat de Sillans[15]
5 December 1907 Captain Drouet[15]
1909 Lieutenant Arnauld*[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Roche, Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française, p417.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
  3. 1 2 3 Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p22.
  4. ↑ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18 & 38.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p19.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p21.
  6. ↑ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p18.
  7. ↑ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p26.
  8. ↑ Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p35.
    • Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p42.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p38-9.
  10. ↑ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part III, Warship International, No 1, 1995, p28.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part I, Warship International, No 1, 1994, p40.
  12. ↑ Saibène, The Redoubtable, Part II, Warship International, No 2, 1994, p126.
  13. ↑ Conway Marine, 'Steam, Steel, and Shellfire"
  14. 1 2 Scientific American 1881
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Saibène, Les Cuirasses Redoutable, Dévastation, Courbet, Programme de 1872, p 56.

Bibliography

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