French ironclad Friedland The " French ironclad Friedland " was originally intended to be an iron - hulled version of armoured frigate built for the French Navy during the 1870s , but she was much altered during her prolonged construction . Named after the French victory at the Battle of Friedland in 1807 , the ship spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron and supported the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881 . She was condemned in 1902 . Design and description . " Friedland " was a central battery ironclad with the armament concentrated amidships . Like most ironclads of her era she was fitted with a plough - shaped ram . The ship measured overall , with a beam of . " Friedland " had a maximum draft of and displaced , some larger than the " Ocean " - class ironclads . Her crew numbered around 750 officers and men . Five watertight bulkheads divided the hull into compartments , although they only reached up to the main deck . " Friedland " did not have a double bottom . The metacentric height of the ship was low , a little above . Propulsion . " Friedland " had one Indret 3 - cylinder horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engine driving a single propeller . Its engine was powered by eight oval boilers . On sea trials the engine produced and " Friedland " reached . She carried of coal which allowed her to steam for approximately at a speed of . " Friedland " was initially ship rigged with three masts , then barque - rigged and finally fore - and - aft rig ged after her mainmast was removed . Armament and Armour . Two 274 - millimetre Modèle 1870 guns were mounted in barbette s on the upper deck , one gun at the forward corner of the battery , with the remaining six 274 - millimetre Modèle 1870 guns on the battery deck below the barbette s . Eight 138 - millimetre Modèle 1870 guns were on the upper deck , fore and aft of the barbettes , and on the battery deck . The 18 - calibre gun fired an armour - 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 gun was 21 calibres long and weighed . It fired a explosive shell that had a muzzle velocity of . The guns could fire both solid shot and explosive shells . At some point the ship received 22 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 . The hull was not recessed to enable any of the guns on the battery deck to fire forward or aft . However , the guns mounted in the barbettes sponsoned out over the sides of the hull did have some ability to fire fore and aft . In 1884 two above - water torpedo tube s were added . Two more were added in 1891 . " Friedland " had a complete wrought iron waterline belt . The sides and the transverse bulkheads of the battery itself were armoured with of wrought iron . The barbettes were unarmoured . Service . " Friedland " was laid down at Lorient in January 1865 and launched on 15 October 1873 . 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 began her sea trials on 1 May 1875 , but was not completed until 20 June 1877 . " Friedland " joined the Mediterranean Squadron in 1878 and the ship bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax from 6 – 16 July 1881 as part of the French occupation of Tunisia . She was reduced to reserve in 1887 and decommissioned in 1893 . " Friedland " returned to active duty in 1893 , but was paid off in 1898 and condemned in 1902 .