| French ironclad Couronne | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Career (France) |  |
| Name: | Couronne |
| Namesake: | "Crown" |
| Builder: | Lorient |
| Laid down: | 14 February 1859 |
| Launched: | 28 March 1861 |
| Commissioned: | 2 February 1862 |
| Out of service: | Hulked, 1910 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1932 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Gloire-class ironclad |
| Displacement: | 6,428 tonnes |
| Length: | 80.85 m (265 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 16.7 m (54 ft 9 in) |
| Draught: | 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: |
Indret boiler, 3,800 hp (2,834 kW) 1 Ć 6-bladed 5.8 m (19 ft) propeller |
| Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 570 |
| Armament: | 30 Ć Model 1878 rifled guns |
| Armour: |
Belt: 120 mm (4.7 in) Superstructures: 120 mm (4.7 in) Bunker: 100 mm (3.9 in) |
Couronne ("Crown") was an ironclad battleship of the French Navy during the Second Empire.
Career[]
The Couronne was built as an ironclad of Gloire type, though she was made entirely in iron rather than iron plaques fixed on a wooden hull. When built, she was the only all-iron ship in the French navy.[1]
In 1864, Couronne took an incidental role in the Battle of Cherbourg, leading CSS Alabama off French territorial waters to her fight with USS Kearsarge.[2]
From 1881 on, she was used as a gunnery school for the Navy and modified : her armour was removed, her bow, rear and rigging were modified, giving her the appeared of a ship of the NapolƩon type. For this role, her artillery was replaced by an assortment of guns of various calibres.
In 1908, she was replaced in her role as gunnery school, and converted to a floating barracks, until she was scrapped in 1932.
The Couronne sailing in heavy sea
References[]
- ā Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 614. http://archive.org/stream/1862appletonsan02newyuoft#page/n621/mode/1up.
- ā "Combat naval Ć Cherbourg (1864)". wikimanche.fr. 2013. http://www.wikimanche.fr/Combat_naval_%C3%A0_Cherbourg_%281864%29. Retrieved 20 March 2013. (French)
Bibliography[]
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bĆ¢timents de la flotte de guerre franƧaise de Colbert Ć nos jours, 1671 ā 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
- de Balincourt, Captain; Vincent-BrĆ©chignac, Captain (1974). "The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Pt. II". Akron, OH: F.P.D.S.. pp. 23ā25.
- Gardiner, Robert, ed (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860ā1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
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