Provence-class ironclad
# Provence-class ironclad

The Provence-class ironclads consisted of 10 ironclad frigates built for the French Navy (Marine Nationale) during the 1860s. Only one of the sister ships was built with an wrought iron hull; the others were built in wood. By 1865 they were armed with eleven 194-millimeter (7.6 in) guns and played a minor role in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War. The ships began to be disposed of in the early 1880s, although several lingered on in subsidiary roles for another decade before they followed their sisters to the scrap yard.

## Design and description

The Provence class was designed by naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme as an enlarged version of the Gloire-class ironclads with thicker armor, more powerful guns, and better seakeeping qualities. The ships had an overall length of 82.9 meters (272 ft), a beam of 17.06 meters (56 ft), and a draft of 8.4 meters (27 ft 7 in) at deep load. They displaced 5,810 metric tons (5,720 long tons). All of the ships except Héroïne had wooden hulls; that ship had an iron hull. The Provence-class ships had a metacentric height of about 1.4 meters (4.5 ft) and did not roll as badly as the Gloires. They had a crew of 579–594 officers and enlisted men.

The ships of the Provence class had a single horizontal-return connecting-rod compound steam engine that drove a four-bladed, 6.1-meter (20 ft) propeller, using steam provided by eight boilers at a maximum pressure of 1.8 $kg/cm^2$ (177 kPa; 26 psi). The engine was rated at 1,000 nominal horsepower or 3,200 metric horsepower (2,400 kW) and was intended to give the ships a speed in excess of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). Available records of their sea trials show that they achieved speeds of 13.2–16.5 knots (24.4–30.6 km/h; 15.2–19.0 mph) from 2,918–3,895 metric horsepower (2,146–2,865 kW). The Provence class carried between 590–640 t (581–630 long tons) of coal which allowed them to steam for 2,410 nautical miles (4,460 km; 2,770 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). They were fitted with a three-masted barque rig that had a sail area of 1,960 square meters (21,100 sq ft).

### Armament and protection

The main battery of the Provence-class ships was intended to be thirty 164.7-millimeter (6.5 in) Modèle 1858–60 rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns, but this was changed to eleven 194-millimeter (7.6 in) Modèle 1864 smoothbore muzzle-loading guns in 1865. It is uncertain if any received their intended armament, although naval historian N. J. M. Campbell states that Flandre, Provence and Héroïne, three of the first ships completed, were armed with a mix of ten 164.7 mm smoothbores, twenty-two 164.7 mm RMLs and a pair of 220-millimeter (8.7 in) RML howitzers. Ten of the 194 mm Modèle 1864 guns were mounted on the broadside and one was on a pivot mount below the forecastle deck as a chase gun. Three years later, their armament was changed to eight 240-millimeter (9.4 in) RMLs and four 194 mm smoothbores.

From the upper deck down to below the waterline, the sides of the ships were completely armored with 150 mm (5.9 in) of wrought iron. The sides of the battery itself were protected with 110 mm (4.3 in) of armor. The conning tower's sides consisted of 102-millimeter (4 in) armor plates.

## Ships

| Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Flandre | Arsenal de Cherbourg | 28 January 1861 | 12 June 1864 | May 1865 | Condemned, 12 November 1886 |
| Gauloise | Arsenal de Brest | 24 January 1861 | 26 April 1865 | 5 December 1867 | Condemned, 3 October 1883 |
| Guyenne | Arsenal de Rochefort | 11 February 1861 | 6 September 1865 | 6 November 1867 | Stricken from the navy list, 19 October 1882 |
| Héroïne | Arsenal de Lorient | 10 June 1861 | 19 December 1863 | 7 June 1865 | Scuttled, 1901 |
| Magnanime | Arsenal de Brest | 27 February 1861 | 19 August 1864 | 1 November 1865 | Stricken, 19 January 1882 |
| Provence | Arsenal de Toulon | March 1861 | 29 October 1863 | 1 February 1865 | Condemned, 3 May 1884 |
| Revanche | Arsenal de Toulon | March 1861 | 28 December 1865 | 1 May 1867 | Stricken, 10 January 1893 |
| Savoie | Arsenal de Toulon | March 1861 | 29 September 1864 | 25 March 1865 | 19 November 1888 |
| Surveillante | Arsenal de Lorient | 28 January 1861 | 18 August 1864 | 21 October 1867 | Stricken, 1890 |
| Valeureuse | Arsenal de Brest | 23 May 1861 | 18 August 1864 | 25 March 1867 | Condemned, 9 December 1886 |
