''Valmy'', named after the
Battle of Valmy, was the largest
three-decker
A three-decker was a sailing warship which carried her principal carriage-mounted guns on three fully armed decks. Usually additional (smaller) guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck), but this was not a continuous b ...
of 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 ...
, and the largest
tall ship ever built in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Design
The design of ''Valmy'' was decided by the
Commission de Paris The Commission de Paris was a body of French naval engineers gathered in 1821 to design the future frigates and ships of the line of the French Navy for the post-Empire era. Presided by Jacques-Noël Sané, the Commission comprised Jean-Marguerite ...
, as a way to modernise the 118-gun
''Océan'' class design and its derivatives. The most radical departure from previous designs was the shedding of
tumblehome
Tumblehome is a term describing a hull which grows narrower above the waterline than its beam. The opposite of tumblehome is flare.
A small amount of tumblehome is normal in many naval architecture designs in order to allow any small projecti ...
and adoption of vertical sides, shared by the
''Hercule'' and
''Suffren'' classes; this significantly increased the space available for upper batteries, but reduced the
stability
Stability may refer to:
Mathematics
*Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems
** Asymptotic stability
** Linear stability
** Lyapunov stability
** Orbital stability
** Structural sta ...
of the ship.
''Valmy'' was laid down at
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
in 1838 as ''Formidable'' and launched in 1847.
She displayed poor performances during her trials, especially with a tendency to roll, and was generally considered a failure. Stability problems were to some extent improved by the addition of a high belt of wood sheathing at the waterline. The outcome of the project led the French Navy to return to a more traditional design with the next generation of ships, which would lead to
''Bretagne''.
Career
''Valmy'' participated in the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, where she proved difficult to manoeuvre and, like other sailing vessels, often had to be towed by steam ships. During the
bombardment of Sevastopol, the only time ''Valmy'' fired her guns in anger, she was towed by the new steam two-decker
''Napoléon''.
On 13 November 1855, ''Valmy'' collided with the French
schooner ''Etoile du Nord'' in the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. The schooner was dismasted and ''Valmy'' put in to
Málaga, Spain.
She returned to Brest in 1855, where she was disarmed. In 1864, she was renamed ''Borda'' and became a training hulk for the
French Naval Academy
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
. Upon her replacement in 1890, she was renamed ''Intrépide''. She was stricken from the navy list in 1891 and scrapped soon afterwards.
Gallery
File:Borda auguste mayer 1867-reduc.jpg, ''Visit by Imperatrice Eugénie aboard the ''Borda'' (ex-''Valmy'') on 26 July 1867'', by Auguste Mayer Auguste may refer to:
People Surname
* Arsène Auguste (born 1951), Haitian footballer
* Donna Auguste (born 1958), African-American businesswoman
* Georges Auguste (born 1933), Haitian painter
* Henri Auguste (1759–1816), Parisian gold and ...
File:Valmy mp3h9323.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
File:Valmy mp3h9320.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
File:Valmy mp3h9344.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
File:Valmy mp3h9346.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
File:MuseeMarine-Valmy-p1000470.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
File:Valmy-MnM 19 MG 4-IMG 5871.JPG, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''
Sources and references
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
dossiersmarine.free.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valmy (1847)
Ships of the line of the French Navy
Ships built in France
Crimean War naval ships of France
1847 ships