''Solférino'' was the second and last ship of the of

broadside ironclad An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

s built for the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

() in the early 1860s. These two ironclads were the only two-decked broadside ironclad battleships ever built. They were also the first ships in the world to be equipped with a spur ram.

Design and description

The ''Magenta'' class were two-decked ironclad ships of the line, much as the preceding were armored versions of traditional frigates. ''Solférino'' was long, had a beam of , and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of . The ship displaced . The ''Magenta''s were equipped with a metal-reinforced,

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

-shaped ram, the first ironclads to be fitted with a ram,Campbell, p. 287 and they had a crew of 674 officers and enlisted men.Gille, p. 24 The ''Magenta''-class ships had a single two-cylinder horizontal-return connecting-rod compound steam engine that drove the propeller shaft,de Balincourt & Vincent-Bréchignac, p. 25 using steam provided by eight

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

s. The engine was rated at 1,000

nominal horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

or and was intended to give the ships a speed in excess of . During their

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s, ''Solférino'' achieved a speed of from . The ''Magenta'' class carried enough coal to allow them to steam for at a speed of .Silverstone, p. 62 They were originally fitted with a three-masted

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

rig that had a sail area of , but they were re-rigged as

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

s with in 1864–1865.

Armament and protection

The

main battery A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...

of the ''Magenta'' class consisted of sixteen Modèle 1858–60

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

muzzle-loading guns, thirty-four Modèle 1858–60 rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns and a pair of RML howitzers on two gun decks. All of the 194 mm guns and ten of the 164.7 mm guns were mounted on the lower gun deck on the broadside. The remaining 164.7 mm guns and the 225 mm howitzers were positioned on the upper gun deck; the former on the broadside, but the latter were placed on pivot mounts as chase guns fore and aft. In the late 1860s all of the guns on the lower gun deck were removed and their armament was changed to four RMLs and eight 194 mm smoothbores, two each of the latter fore and aft as chase guns on the upper gun deck. Their final armament consisted of ten 240 mm Modèle 1864–66 guns and four 194 mm guns as chase guns fore and aft. The ''Magenta''s had a full-length waterline belt that consisted of

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

plates thick. Above the belt both gun decks were protected with of armor, but the ends of the ships were unprotected.

Construction and service

''Solférino'', named after the French victory in the

Battle of Solferino The Battle of Solferino (referred to in Italy as the Battle of Solferino and San Martino) on 24 June 1859 resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and Piedmont-Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known ...

,Silverstone, p. 112 was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 24 June 1859 by the

Arsenal de Lorient Naval Group is a major French industrial group specialized in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Di ...

, launched on 24 June 1861 and commissioned on 25 August 1862.

Citations

Bibliography

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Design and description

Armament and protection

Construction and service

Citations

Bibliography

External links