French ironclad Normandie

Career (France)
Name:	Normandie
Builder:	Cherbourg, France
Laid down:	14 September 1858
Launched:	10 March 1860
Commissioned:	13 May 1862
Decommissioned:	1871
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gloire Class Ironclad
Displacement:	5,630 tonnes
Length:	77.8 m
Beam:	17 m
Draught:	8.4 m
Propulsion:	Sail (1100 m²) single shaft HRCR (horizontal return), 2,500 hp (1.9MW) steam engine, 8 oval boilers
Speed:	13 knots
Range:	665 tonnes of coal
Complement:	570
Armament:	36 × 6.4in (163 mm) rifled muzzle-loaders model (1858/60) After 1868 8 × 9.4in (239 mm) BL model 1864, 6 × 7.6in (193 mm) BL model 1866
Armour:	110 to 119 mm iron plates

The French Navy's Normandie was a sister ship to the La Gloire, the world's first ocean-going ironclad battleship. The Gloire class were designed by the French naval architect Dupuy de Lôme. Normandie was the third and last of the class to be completed.

In 1862, Normandie became the first ironclad to cross the Atlantic, on her way to support the French intervention in Mexico. It also carried Napoleon Bonaparte I's remains from St. Helena to his final resting place in Les Invalides.

Normandie's original battery proved to be ineffective against armour, and was replaced in 1868 with breech loaders. Her poor construction, a result of using poor quality timbers, saw her stricken in 1871, after less than 10 years' service.

References

• Roger Chesneau and Eugene M. Kolesnik, ed., Conway's All The Worlds Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, (Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979), ISBN 0-85177-133-5