page_title: French ironclad Couronne
section_title: Design and description
hierarchical_section_title: French ironclad Couronne / Design and description
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Exercice du Canon, a bord de la Couronne English: Subject: Ordnance, Naval, Naval gunnery, Couronne (Ship) Tag: Vessels, People
context_page_description: The French ironclad Couronne was the first iron-hulled ironclad warship built for the French Navy in 1859–62. She was the first such ship to be laid down, although the British armoured frigate HMS Warrior was completed first. The ship participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, but saw no combat. She was served as a gunnery training ship from 1885 to 1908 before she was hulked the following year and became a barracks ship in Toulon. Couronne was scrapped in 1934, over 70 years after she was completed.
context_section_description: Designed by the French naval architect Camille Audenet as an iron-hulled version of the Gloire-class ironclads, Couronne was also intended to fight in the line of battle, unlike the first British ironclads. The ship was classified as an armoured frigate because she only had a single gun deck and her traditional disposition of guns arrayed along the length of the hull also meant that she was a broadside ironclad. The ship was 80.85 metres (265 ft 3 in) long, with a beam of 17 metres (55 ft 9 in). She had a maximum draft of 7.8 metres (25 ft 7 in), a depth of hold of 9.7 metres (31 ft 10 in) and displaced 6,428 tonnes (6,326 long tons). The ship's metacentric height of 1.8 metres (6 ft) meant that she rolled less and was a better sea boat than the Gloires. Her gun ports were slightly higher above the waterline than those of her predecessors, 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), and Couronne took aboard less water as well. She had a crew of 570 officers and enlisted men.
  The ship had a single horizontal return connecting-rod compound steam engine that drove a six-bladed, 5.8-meter (19 ft 0 in) propeller using steam provided by eight Indret oval boilers for a designed speed of 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph). Figures for the engine's designed power vary wildly, from 2,000 to 3,200 indicated horsepower (1,500 to 2,400 kW), but Couronne reached 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) from 2,597 metric horsepower (1,910 kW) during her sea trials. She carried a maximum of 675 tonnes (664 long tons) of coal which allowed her to steam for 2,410 nautical miles (4,460 km; 2,770 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The details of Couronne's sailing rig are not precisely known, but presumably she was fitted with a light barquentine rig with three masts like that of the Gloire-class ships. It is also unknown if she had the same multiple changes of rigging as those ships.
  Couronne was armed with 36 Modèle 1860 164.7-millimetre (6.5 in) rifled breech-loading guns, 30 of which were positioned on the single gun deck in the broadside. The remaining 4 guns were placed on the upper deck as chase guns. They fired a 44.9-kilogram (99.0 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of only 322 metres per second (1,060 ft/s) and proved to be ineffective against armour. The ship was rearmed multiple times during her career, the first of which was the replacement of the chase guns by four 220-millimetre (8.7 in) howitzers in 1864 and the replacement of the rest of the guns by improved Modèle 1864 guns. The ship was subsequently rearmed with 16 Modèle 1864 or 1866 194-millimetre (7.6 in) guns on her main deck and six 164.7-millimetre guns on the upper deck as chase guns. Her final armament configuration before she became a gunnery training ship in 1881 was eight 240-millimetre (9.4 in) Modèle 1870 guns and four 194-millimetre Modèle 1870 guns on the main deck. A pair of 120-millimetre (4.7 in) guns and a dozen 37-millimetre (1.5 in) 5-barrelled Hotchkiss revolving cannon were mounted on the upper deck.
  Couronne's wrought iron hull was completely protected by armour plates 120 millimetres thick. The armour backing consisted of two layers of teak, totaling 380 millimetres (15 in) in thickness, an iron lattice work 33 millimetres (1.3 in) thick, and the 20-millimetre (0.79 in) side of the hull. The ship had a conning tower with armour 100 millimetres (3.9 in) thick and 12.7 millimetres (0.5 in) of armour underneath the wooden upper deck.
caption: Gunnery practice on Couronne
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