French ironclad Victorieuse Victorieuse ( " Victorious " ) was the second ship of the of wooden - hulled , armored corvette s built for the French Navy during the 1870s . Her construction was delayed for years and the navy took advantage of the extended construction time to upgrade her armament in comparison to the lead ship , . Unlike her sisters , " Victorieuse " did not see any combat although she participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands in 1880 . She was condemned in 1900 . Design and description . The " La Galissonnière " - class ironclad s were designed as faster , more heavily armed versions of the s by Henri Dupuy de Lôme . They used the same central battery layout as their predecessors , although the battery was lengthened to provide enough room to work the larger guns . " Victorieuse " and her sister ship were modified by Sabattier who reduced the number of screws from two to one to improve their sailing qualities , added an bow chaser under the forecastle and increased the caliber and number of the secondary armament . " Victorieuse " was between perpendiculars and had a beam of . She had a mean draft of and displaced . Her crew numbered between 352 and 382 officers and men . Propulsion . " Victorieuse " had a single vertical compound steam engine driving a single propeller . Her engine was powered by four oval boilers . During sea trials her engine produced and the ship reached . She only carried of coal which allowed her to steam for at a speed of . " Victorieuse " was also ship - rigged with three masts and had a sail area of . Armament . " Victorieuse " mounted four of her six 240 - millmeter Modèle 1870 guns in the central battery on the battery deck . The other two 240 - millimeter guns were mounted in barbette s on the upper deck , sponsoned out over the sides of the ship , just forward of the funnel . A 194 - millimeter chase gun was fitted under the forecastle . " Victorieuse " s secondary armament of six guns was also mounted on the upper deck . The armor - piercing shell of the 19 - caliber 240 - millmeter gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . It had a muzzle velocity of and was credited with the ability to penetrate a nominal of wrought iron armour at the muzzle . The 20 - caliber 194 - millimeter gun fired an armor - piercing , shell 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 138 - millimeter gun was 21 calibers long and weighed . It fired a explosive shell that had a muzzle velocity of . The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells . The ship also mounted four Hotchkiss 5 - barrel revolving guns . They fired a shell weighing about at a muzzle velocity of about to a range of about . They had a rate of fire of about 30 rounds per minute . " Victorieuse " also received several towed Harvey torpedoes . Armor . The " La Galissonnière " - class ships had a complete wrought iron waterline belt , approximately high laid over of wood . The sides of the battery itself were armored with of wrought iron backed by of wood and the ends of the battery were closed by bulkheads of the same thickness . The barbette armor was thick . The unarmored portions of their sides were protected by thin iron plates . Service . " Victorieuse " was laid down at Toulon on 5 August 1869 and launched on 18 November 1875 . While the exact reason for such prolonged construction time is not known , the budget for the French Navy was cut after the Franco - Prussian War of 1870 – 71 and the French dockyards had not been reformed with working practices more suitable for the industrial age . The ship was commissioned for her sea trials on 12 November 1876 and she was placed in reserve in Toulon after they were completed . She was recommissioned as the flagship of the Pacific Squadron on 17 August 1878 under the command of Rear Admiral Bergasse du Petit - Thouars . The ship participated in the pacification of the Marquesas Islands in 1880 , which had been conquered by the admiral ' s uncle Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars forty years before . " Victorieuse " returned to Toulon on 23 May 1881 . The ship was recommissioned as the flagship of the China Squadron on 1 December 1881 under the command of Rear Admiral Meyer . She was relieved by her sister " La Galissonnière " in April 1884 . She became flagship of the Levant Squadron after she arrived in France , but was in bad shape and soon placed in reserve at Cherbourg . " Victorieuse " became the flagship of Rear Admiral Barrera , second - in - command of the Northern Squadron on 10 February 1892 . The ship was on summer maneuvers off the Iberia n coast in July 1893 . Two years later she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Ménard . She was initially condemned in May 1897 , but this was reversed so she could convoy torpedo boat s to Bizerte . That plan was later cancelled and " Victorieuse " was paid off in 1899 , becoming guardship of the outer harbor at Brest until finally condemned the following year .