French ironclad Savoie


The French ironclad Savoie was one of 10 s built for the French Navy during the 1860s.

Design and description

The Provence class was designed as an enlarged version of the s with thicker armor, more powerful guns, and better seakeeping qualities. The ships had an overall length of, with a beam of, and a draft of, depending on the load. They displaced between. Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram. 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 single propeller shaft, using steam provided by eight boilers. The engine was rated at 1,000 nominal horsepower or and was intended to give the ships a speed in excess of. The other ships of the class achieved speeds of from during their sea trials. The Provence class carried enough coal to allow them to steam for at a speed of. They were fitted with a three-masted barque rig that had a sail area of.

Armament and protection

The main battery of the Provence-class ships was intended to be thirty Modèle 1858–60 rifled muzzle-loading guns, but this was changed to eleven Modèle 1864 smoothbore muzzle-loading guns in 1865. Ten of the 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 RMLs and four 194 mm smoothbores.
From the upper deck down to below the waterline, the sides of the ships were completely armored with of wrought iron. The sides of the battery itself were protected with of armor. The conning tower's sides consisted of armor plates.

Construction and service

Savoie, named after the historic province, was laid down in March 1861 by the Arsenal de Toulon, launched on 29 September 1864 and commissioned on 25 March 1865.

Citations