The "Ville de Nantes" class consisted of three second-rank, 90-gun, steam-powered ships of the line built for the French Navy in the 1850s. Most of the ships participated in the Second French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s and spent extensive amounts of time in reserve. In 1871–1872 the sister ships were used as prison ships after the Paris Commune was crushed by the French government in 1871.