Tonnerre 1879
| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Tonnerre | Arsenal de Lorient | 10/1873 | 9/1875 | 1879 | stricken 1905 | ||
| Fulminant | Arsenal de Cherbourg | 1/1875 | 8/1877 | 1882 | stricken 1908 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
Tonnerre: 5765 Fulminant: 5871 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
73.6 pp 76.0 oa |
|
Breadth, m |
17.6 |
|
Draught, m |
6.50 - 7.19 max |
|
No of shafts |
1 |
|
Machinery |
1 HC, 8 cylindrical boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
4200 - 4500 |
|
Max speed, kts |
13.7 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 390 |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
1400(10) |
|
Armour, mm |
wrought iron; belt: 330 - 250, breastwork: 330, turret: 330 - 300, deck: 50 |
|
Armament |
1 x 2 - 274/20 M1875 No.2 |
|
Complement |
220 |
Project history: Single-turret vessels with the hull mostly steel though retaining wrought iron armour. The turret was 10.5m in diameter with a central fixed 1.4m diameter shaft which supported a conning tower protected by an armoured collar on the turret. The superstructure was only 2.4m wide and it was theoretically possible to fire right astern, though it was reported that an attempt by Tonnerre to do so in 1884 blew away the fore pan of the superstructure, Tonnerre is also said to have come near to capsizing when turning hard a port under the combined action of screw and rudder. She had the reconstructed engine of the Normandie.
Ship protection: The belt was 330mm amidships with 250mm forward and 300mm aft and there was a 50mm deck over the belt outside the breastwork.
Modernizations: 1890s, Tonnerre: + 4 x 1 - 47/40 M1885, 4 x 5 - 37/20 M1885
1890s, Fulminant: + 4 x 1 - 47/40 M1885, 6 x 5 - 27/20 M1872
Naval service: During the 1890s both monitors were employed as torpedo depot ships.
Tonnerre 1885
© Ivan Gogin, 2014