French ironclad Solférino (1861)

File:Solferino(1861).jpg The French ironclad Solférino, of the Magenta class, the only two-decked broadside ironclad battleships ever built.
Career (France)
Namesake:	Battle of Solferino
Builder:	Lorient
Laid down:	24 June 1859
Launched:	24 June 1861
Struck:	1882
General characteristics
Class and type:	Magenta class broadside ironclad
Displacement:	7129 tonnes
Length:	85.98m
Beam:	17.27m
Draught:	8.43m
Propulsion:	Sail 1000HP steam engine, 8 boilers
Speed:	12 knots
Endurance:	3 months of food, 740 tonnes of coal
Complement:	681
Armament:	As built 16x55pdr Smoothbore guns; 34x6.4in BLM 1860 guns; 2x8.8in RML howitzers From 1868 14×9.4in(240mm) BLM 1864/ M1866 guns
Armour:	Wrought iron belt 4.7in

Solférino was a broadside ironclad warship of the French Navy, the second unit of the Magenta class, designed by Dupuy de Lôme and launched in 1861. She was named in honour of the Battle of Solferino.

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. They were somewhat of an enlarged version of the Gloire type armoured frigate, or the result of the same principle applied to a full-scale ship of the line.

References

• "Steam, Steel and Shellfire, The Steam Warship 1815-1905", Conway'S history of the ship, Chartwell Books Inc., ISBN 0-7858-1413-2
• Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5

External links

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• Plans of the Solférino (large TIF files) from the Atlas du génie maritime of the Service historique de la Défense" ("Historical services of the ministry of Defence")
  • Plan of the hull
  • Cargo bay and machinery
  • 2nd battery and castle
  • 1st battery
  • Riggings