French ironclad Armide The French ironclad " Armide " was a wooden - hulled armored corvette built for the French Navy in the mid - 1860s . Placed into reserve after completion , she was first mobilized for the Franco - Prussian War of 1870 – 71 . She spent the rest of her career in the Mediterranean and then in the Far East as flagship of the French squadrons there , until her decommissioning in 1880 . " Armide " was use as a target for gunnery trials in 1886 . 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 their era they were equipped with a metal - reinforced ram . " Armide " measured between perpendiculars , with a beam of . She had a mean draft of and displaced . Her crew numbered 316 officers and men . Propulsion . The ship had a single horizontal three - cylinder return connecting - rod steam engine driving a single four - bladed propeller . Her engine was powered by four Creusot oval boilers . On sea trials the engine produced and the ship reached . " Armide " 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 . " Armide " 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 may have exchanged her Mle 1864 guns for Mle 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 . " Armide " 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 . " Armide " was laid down at Rochefort in 1865 and launched on 12 April 1867 . The ship began her sea trials on 5 October 1867 and was put into reserve at Brest immediately after their completion . She was commissioned on 20 July 1870 to serve with the Baltic Squadron during the Franco - Prussian War . The squadron was ordered to lift its blockade of the Prussian Baltic ports on 16 September and return to Cherbourg . " Armide " was decommissioned on 1 November , but was recommissioned on 12 January 1871 to blockade the in Lisbon for the duration of the war . Afterward she was transferred to the Mediterranean where she remained until 1873 . " Armide " was decommissioned on 28 October 1873 at Toulon and had her armament reduced to six guns . She was recommissioned as the flagship of the Levant Squadron on 25 August 1874 . On 19 September 1875 " Armide " was in Algiers . The ship was reduced to reserve in December 1875 at Brest . She was recommissioned in 1877 as the flagship of the China Squadron under Rear Admiral Duburquois and departed Brest on 17 January 1878 . She was relieved by her sister on 22 January 1880 at Singapore . She was decommissioned at Toulon on 17 March 1880 and condemned on 25 October 1882 . " Armide " was used in gunnery trials in March 1886 and filled with watertight barrels to keep her from sinking . She was set adrift and fired at by a group of French ironclads at ranges up to ; she was towed back to port to examine the effects of the shells .