Montcalm 1869
| Name | No | Yard No | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Comp | Fate |
| Alma | Arsenal de Lorient | 1.10.1865 | 26.11.1867 | 1869 | hulk 1886 | ||
| Armide | Arsenal de Rochefort | 1865 | 12.4.1867 | 1867 | stricken 1887 | ||
| Atalante | Arsenal de Cherbourg | 6/1865 | 9.4.1868 | 1869 | stricken 1887 | ||
| Jeanne d'Arc | Arsenal de Cherbourg | 1865 | 28.9.1867 | 1868 | stricken 1883 | ||
| Montcalm (ex-Indienne) | Arsenal de Rochefort | 26.10.1865 | 16.10.1868 | 1869 | stricken 1891 | ||
| Reine Blanche | Arsenal de Lorient | 1865 | 10.3.1868 | 1869 | stricken 1886 | ||
| Thétis | Arsenal de Toulon | 1865 | 22.8.1867 | 1868 | stricken 1895 |
|
Displacement normal, t |
Thétis: 3513 Montcalm: 3828 |
|
Displacement full, t |
|
|
Length, m |
68.9 pp |
|
Breadth, m |
13.9 - 14.2 |
|
Draught, m |
6.26 - 6.66 mean |
|
No of shafts |
1 |
|
Machinery |
1 HRCR, 4 oval boilers |
|
Power, h. p. |
1580 - 1890 |
|
Max speed, kts |
11 - 11.9 |
|
Fuel, t |
coal 250 |
|
Endurance, nm(kts) |
|
|
Armour, mm |
wrought iron; belt: 150, battery: 120, barbettes: 100 |
|
Armament |
6 x 1 - 194/19 M1864/66 MLR |
|
Complement |
316 |
Project history: Wooden-hulled central battery ships. It was originally intended to have an upper battery with 4 194mm at the corners, but this was given up in favour of four barbettes reduced to two for reasons of topweight, The battery height varied from 1.7m to 2.1m and 4 194mm guns were mounted here with two in the barbettes. The metal reinforced ram projected 2.7m and Alma is credited with a tactical diameter of only 330m. They were rigged as barques with about 1440m² of sail and had single funnels except Jeanne d'Arc and Thétis which had two abreast.
Ship protection: 15mm iron plating above water was not armoured and 120mm armour closed bulkheads for the battery. The waterline belt was complete and about 2.4m wide
Modernizations: 1870s, all: - 6 x 1 - 194/19; + 6 x 1 - 194/20 M1870, 4 x 1 - 139/21 M1870 or 4 x 1 - 120/25 M1870, 8 x 5 - 37/17 Hotchkiss
Naval service: Reine Blanche was rammed by Thétis in July 1877 but both ships survived. Thétis was commissioned at the end of 18S5 for the Pacific but had to return as unseaworthy and eventually went to Noumea as a stationary hulk.
Reine Blanche
© Ivan Gogin, 2020