Английская Википедия:Alma-class ironclad
Шаблон:Infobox ship imageШаблон:Infobox ship class overviewШаблон:Infobox ship characteristics
The Alma-class ironclads were a group of seven wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy in the mid to late 1860s. Three of the ships attempted to blockade Prussian ports in the Baltic Sea in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. Three others patrolled the North Sea and the Atlantic, while the last ship was en route to Japan when the war began and blockaded two small Prussian ships in a Japanese harbor. Afterwards they alternated periods of reserve and active commissions, many of them abroad. Three of the ships participated in the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881 while another helped to intimidate the Vietnamese Government into accepting status as a French protectorate and played a small role in the Sino-French War of 1884–85.
Design and description
The Alma-class ironclads[Note 1] were designed by Henri Dupuy de Lôme as improved versions of the armored corvette Шаблон:Ship suitable for foreign deployments.[1] Unlike their predecessor the ships were true central battery ironclads as they were fitted with armored transverse bulkheads.[2] The original plan for these ships was to have a two-deck battery with four Шаблон:Convert guns on the battery deck and four Шаблон:Convert guns mounted above them on the upper deck, one gun at each corner of the battery. This design was changed to substitute four barbettes for the upper battery, but the addition of armored bulkheads proved to be very heavy and the rear pair of barbettes had to be deleted to save weight. In partial compensation the 164-millimeter guns in the remaining forward barbettes were replaced by an additional pair of 194-millimeter guns.[3] Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram.[4]
The ships were built from the same general plan, but differed amongst themselves. They measured Шаблон:Convert between perpendiculars, with a beam of Шаблон:Convert. The ships had a mean draft of Шаблон:Convert and displaced Шаблон:Convert.[2] Their crew numbered 316 officers and men.[4]
Propulsion
The Alma-class ships had a single horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller. Their engine was powered by four oval boilers.[4] On sea trials the engine produced between Шаблон:Convert and the ships reached Шаблон:Convert.[2] Unlike the single funnels of the others, Шаблон:Ship and Шаблон:Ship had two funnels, mounted side by side.[3] The ships carried Шаблон:Convert[4] of coal which allowed the ship to steam for Шаблон:Convert at a speed of Шаблон:Convert. They were barque-rigged with three masts and had a sail area between Шаблон:Convert.[2]
Armament
The ships mounted four of their 194-millimeter Modèle 1864 breech-loading guns in the central battery on the battery deck. The other two 194-millimeter guns were mounted in barbettes on the upper deck, sponsoned out over the sides of the ship. The four Шаблон:Convert guns were also mounted on the upper deck.[3] Шаблон:Ship is the only ship positively known to have exchanged her 194 mm guns for newer Modèle 1870 guns.[1] The armor-piercing shell of the 20-caliber Mle 1870 gun weighed Шаблон:Convert while the gun itself weighed Шаблон:Convert. The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity of Шаблон:Convert and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal Шаблон:Convert of wrought iron armour at the muzzle. The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells.[5]
Armor
The Alma-class ships had a complete Шаблон:Convert wrought iron waterline belt, approximately Шаблон:Convert high. The sides of the battery itself were armored with Шаблон:Convert of wrought iron and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness. The barbette armor was Шаблон:Convert thick, backed by Шаблон:Convert of wood.[3] The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by Шаблон:Convert iron plates.[4]
Ships
| Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Шаблон:Ship | Lorient | 1 October 1865 | 26 November 1867 | 1870 | Sold, May 1893 |
| Шаблон:Ship | Rochefort | 1865 | 12 April 1867 | 1868 | Used in gunnery trials, 1886 |
| Шаблон:Ship | Cherbourg Harbour | June 1865 | 9 April 1868 | 1869 | Condemned, 1887 in Saigon |
| Шаблон:Ship | Cherbourg | 1865 | 28 September 1867 | 1869 | Condemned, 28 August 1883 |
| Шаблон:Ship | Rochefort | 26 October 1865 | 16 October 1868 | 1869 | Condemned, 2 April 1891 |
| Шаблон:Ship | Lorient | 1865 | 10 March 1868 | 1869 | Condemned, 12 November 1884 |
| Шаблон:Ship | Toulon | 1865 | 22 August 1867 | 1868 | Hulked after 1885 |
Service
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 Thétis, Jeanne d'Arc and Armide were assigned to the Northern Squadron that attempted to blockade Prussian ports on the Baltic until ordered to return to Cherbourg on 16 September 1870. Montcalm, Atalante, and Reine Blanche cruised the North Sea and Montcalm later watched a Prussian corvette in Portuguese waters.[6][7] Alma was en route to the Far East when the war began and she blockaded a pair of Prussian corvettes in Yokohama harbor once she arrived at Japan.[1]
After the end of the war many of the ships were placed in reserve or sent to foreign stations, often as the flagship. During the Third Carlist War of 1872–76 Thétis, Reine Blanche and Jeanne d'Arc spent time in Spanish waters where they could protect French citizens and interests.[8][9] In 1875, the latter ship rammed and sank the dispatch vessel Forfait.[10] On 3 July 1877[7] Thétis rammed Reine Blanche who had to be run ashore to prevent her from sinking.[10]
Further abroad Reine Blanche and Alma bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax in July 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia.[11] Atalante participated in the Battle of Thuận An in August 1883. This was an attack by the French on the forts defending the mouth of the Perfume River, leading to the Vietnamese capital of Huế in an attempt to intimidate the Vietnamese government.[12] During the Sino-French War of 1884–85 the ship was in Huế in early September 1884,[13] but she carried Admiral Amédée Courbet to Keelung, Taiwan on 23 September.[12]
Notes
Footnotes
References
Шаблон:Alma class ironclad Шаблон:French ironclads
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- ↑ 1,0 1,1 1,2 de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac, p. 28
- ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 26
- ↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 27
- ↑ 4,0 4,1 4,2 4,3 4,4 Gardiner, p. 302
- ↑ Brassey, p. 477
- ↑ de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1975, pp. 29–30
- ↑ 7,0 7,1 de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 30
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 10,0 10,1 Шаблон:Cite journal
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 12,0 12,1 de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 29
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
