French ironclad Alma The French ironclad " Alma " was a wooden - hulled armored corvette built for the French Navy in the late 1860s . The lead ship of her class , she was named after the 1854 Battle of Alma of the Crimean War . The ship spent her early career on the China Station and later supported the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881 . She was condemned in 1886 , but was not sold until 1893 . Design and description . The s were designed as improved versions of the armored corvette suitable for foreign deployments . Unlike their predecessor the " Alma " - class ships were true central battery ironclads as they were fitted with armored transverse bulkheads . Like most ironclads of her era she was equipped with a metal - reinforced ram . " Alma " measured between perpendiculars , with a beam of . She had a mean draft of and displaced . Propulsion . The ship had a single Mazeline horizontal return connecting - rod steam engine driving a single propeller . Her engine was powered by four oval boilers . On sea trials the engine produced and the ship reached . " Alma " carried of coal which allowed the ship to steam for at a speed of . She was barque - rigged and had a sail area of . Armament . " Alma " mounted her four Modèle 1864 breech - loading guns in the central battery on the battery deck . The other two 194 mm guns were mounted in barbettes on the upper deck , sponsoned out over the sides of the ship . The four guns were also mounted on the upper deck . She later exchanged her 194 mm guns for newer Modèle 1870 guns . The armor - piercing shell of the 20 - caliber Mle 1870 gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . The gun fired its shell at a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal of wrought iron armour at the muzzle . The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells . Armor . " Alma " had a complete wrought iron waterline belt , approximately high . The sides of the battery itself were armored with of wrought iron and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness . The barbette armor was thick , backed by of wood . The unarmored portions of her sides were protected by iron plates . Service . " Alma " was laid down at Lorient on 1 October 1865 and launched on 26 November 1867 . The ship began her sea trials on 24 August 1869 , but did not enter service until the following year , after sailing to Brest to have sheathing added to protect her armor . She was commissioned as the flagship of the China Squadron under command of Rear Admiral Dupré and the ship departed Brest on 15 June 1870 . She grounded on a shoal in the Inland Sea on 15 July and lost her false keel . After the start of the Franco - Prussian War " Alma " blockaded the Prussian corvettes and in the Japanese port of Yokohama from mid - December 1870 until the end of the war . On 24 August 1871 " Alma " rode out a typhoon in Yokohama . She was relieved by " Belliqueuse " on 1 August 1872 and reached Toulon on 16 January 1873 . The ship was assigned to the Evolutionary Squadron on 8 October 1873 . She was in reserve in Cherbourg from 1876 to 1881 . " Alma " recommissioned on 1 March 1881 and was assigned to the Levant Squadron . From 6 – 16 July 1881 the ship bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax as part of the French occupation of Tunisia . She was reduced to reserve in Cherbourg on 8 January 1883 . The ship was condemned on 12 March 1886 , but " Alma " was not sold until May 1893 for 129 , 000 franc s .