page_title: Terrible-class ironclad
section_title: Characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: Terrible-class ironclad / Design / Characteristics
caption_attribution_description: English: French armoured coast-guard Indomptable
context_page_description: The Terrible class was a group of four ironclad barbette ships built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and early 1880s. The class consisted of Terrible, Indomptable, Caïman, and Requin. They were built as part of a fleet plan started in 1872 after the Franco-Prussian War and were designed in response to the German Sachsen class of barbette ships. The Terribles were scaled down versions of the Amiral Baudin class, with one less main gun, though they were of significantly larger caliber. Because the ships were intended for operations against the German fleet in the shallow Baltic Sea, they had a low draft and freeboard, which greatly hampered their seakeeping and thus reduced their ability to be usefully employed after entering service. Armament consisted of a pair of 420 mm guns in individual barbettes, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a French capital ship.
  Because of their poor seakeeping, the ships had limited careers, seeing active service for only a few years in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Thereafter, they spent much of their time in reserve, being activated only for fleet maneuvers. Requin made one voyage abroad to visit Russia and Great Britain in 1891.
context_section_description: The ships of the Terrible class were 82.75 m (271 ft 6 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 17.98 m (59 ft) and a draft of 7.98 m (26 ft 2 in). They displaced 7,530 long tons (7,650 t) and had a relatively low freeboard. Their hulls were divided into eleven or twelve watertight compartments by transverse bulkheads. They were fitted with a pair of pole masts equipped with spotting tops for their main battery guns. The crew consisted of 373 officers and enlisted men. The ships suffered from very poor seakeeping owing to their shallow draft, severely handicapping their usefulness in service.
  Their propulsion machinery consisted of two compound steam engines, each driving a single screw propeller, with steam provided by twelve coal-burning fire-tube boilers in the first three ships. Requin only received ten of the boilers. The ships' boilers were ducted into four small funnels placed in two pairs, side by side, directly astern of the conning tower. All four ships' engines were rated to produce 6,500 indicated horsepower (4,800 kW) for a top speed of 14.5 to 15 knots (26.9 to 27.8 km/h; 16.7 to 17.3 mph).
  Their main armament consisted of two 420 mm (16.5 in) guns, one forward and one aft, mounted  on the centerline in barbettes. These were 22-caliber guns, though Terrible's guns had to be shortened to 19.3 calibers after initial testing revealed cracks at the muzzle. They were the largest guns ever carried by a French capital ship. These guns were supported by a secondary battery of four 100 mm (3.9 in) guns carried in individual pivot mounts with gun shields. For defense against torpedo boats, they carried two or four 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon and sixteen 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolvers, all in individual mounts. Their armament was rounded out with four 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes.
  Terrible was protected with mild steel armor, while the other ships received newer compound armor. Their belt extended for the entire length of the hull and was 508 mm (20 in) thick in the central portion, where it protected the propulsion machinery and the ammunition magazines, tapering to 410 mm (16 in) on the bottom edge. The bow section was reduced to 305 mm (12 in) at the waterline and 254 mm (10 in) on the bottom edge, while the stern section was 305 mm at the waterline and 203 mm (8 in) at the bottom edge. At even normal loading, the belt was nearly submerged entirely, reducing its effectiveness significantly. The barbettes for the main battery were 457 mm (18 in) thick and the supporting tubes that connected them to the ammunition magazines were 203 mm; these extended down to where they met the armor deck, which was connected to the top of the belt. The deck consisted of 81 mm (3.2 in) of either iron or mild steel over another layer of 25 mm (0.98 in) of steel. The sides of their conning towers were also 25 mm, as were the shields for the 100 mm guns.
caption: Sketch showing the side and top views of the class
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