Océan-class ironclad

The Océan-class ironclads were designed by Henri Dupuy de Lôme as an improved version of the Provence-class ironclads. The ships were central battery ironclads with the armament concentrated amidships.[1] For the first time in a French ironclad three watertight iron bulkheads were fitted in the hull.[2] Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram.[2]

The ships measured 87.73 meters (287 ft 10 in) overall,[2] with a beam of 17.52 meters (57 ft 6 in). They had a maximum draft of 9.09 meters (29 ft 10 in) and displaced 7,749 metric tons (7,627 long tons).[1] Their crew numbered between 750 and 778 officers and men. The metacentric height of the ships was very low, between 1.7–2.2 feet (0.5–0.7 m).[2] The ships were over-weight as completed; their draught so exceeded that designed for them that an increase of stability by ballast was impossible.[3] The Océan-class were reported to be able to carry all sail safely, were good sea-boats, steady and well-behaved, but lacking in stiffness (resistance to heeling).[3]

The American, Chief Engineer James Wilson King, gave the cost of each ship as $1,302,000 for the hull and machinery excluding armament, rigging and first outfit of stores, and $260,680 for machinery alone.[13] Thomas Brassey gave the cost of the Marengo as £280,000,[14][15] and the Suffren as £260,400.[14]

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 Océan was assigned to the Northern Squadron that attempted to blockade Prussian ports on the Baltic until recalled on 16 September 1870 and ordered to return to Cherbourg.[16] Afterward she was assigned to the Evolutionary Squadron until 1875 when she was placed in reserve. Océan was recommissioned in 1879 for service with the Mediterranean Squadron. She had a lengthy refit in 1884–85 and was assigned to the Northern Squadron after it was completed. Around 1888 the ship was transferred back to the Mediterranean Squadron until she was reduced to reserve around 1891. Océan was assigned to the Gunnery School that same year and later became a training ship for naval apprentices before being condemned in 1894.[1]

Marengo was running her sea trials when the Franco-Prussian War began and was immediately put in reserve. She was recommissioned in 1872 for service with the Mediterranean Squadron until 1876 when she was again placed in reserve. On 2 October 1880 the ship was recommissioned and assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron. Marengo was transferred to the Levant Squadron (French: Division Navale du Levant) on 13 February 1881[17] and bombarded the Tunisian port of Sfax in July 1881 as part of the French conquest of Tunisia.[18] She remained in the Mediterranean until she was assigned to the Reserve Squadron in 1886. In 1888 Marengo became the flagship of the Northern Squadron and led the squadron during its port visit to Kronstadt in 1891.[19] She was reduced to reserve the following year and sold in 1896.[17]

Suffren was placed into reserve after she completed her sea trials and was not commissioned until 1 March 1876 when she became flagship of the Cherbourg Division. Throughout her career the ship was often used as a flagship because of her spacious admiral's quarters. On 1 September 1880[12] the ship was assigned to the division that participated in the international naval demonstration at Ragusa later that month under the command of Vice Admiral Seymour of the Royal Navy in an attempt to force the Ottoman Empire to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Berlin and turn over the town of Ulcinj to Montenegro.[20] Suffren was reduced to reserve in 1881 and not recommissioned until 23 August 1884 when she was assigned to the Northern Squadron. The ship was transferred to the Mediterranean Squadron about 1888 and remained there until paid off in 1895 and condemned in 1897.[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Océan class ironclad.

• de Balincourt, Captain; Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain (1975). "The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Part IV". F.P.D.S. Newsletter. III (4): 26–30.
• Brassey, Thomas (1882). The British Navy, Volume I, shipbuilding for the purposes of war. London: Longmans, Green, and Company.
• Brassey, Thomas (1882). The British Navy, Volume II, miscellaneous subjects connected with ship-building for the purposes of war. London: Longmans, Green, and Company.
• Brassey, Thomas (1883). The British Navy, Volume III, opinions of the shipbuilding policy of the navy (2 ed.). London: Longmans, Green, and Company.
• Brassey, Thomas (1888). The Naval Annual 1887. Portsmouth, England: J. Griffin.
• Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Fishbourne, Edmund Gardiner (1874). Our ironclads and merchant ships. London: E & F N Spon.
• Friedman, Norman (2018). British Battleships of the Victorian Era. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1526703255.
• Gibbons, Tony (1983). The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers. Salamander Books. ISBN 978-0861011421.
• Gille, Eric (September 1999). Cent Ans de Cuirassés Français. Nantes: Marines Editions. ISBN 978-2909675503.
• Hovgaard, William (1978) [1920]. Modern History of warships. Conway Maritime Press.
• King, James Wilson (1881). The War-Ships and Navies of the World. Boston: A Williams and Company.
• McCarthy, Justin Huntly (2006). England Under Gladstone, 1880–1884 (reprint of 1884 ed.). London: Elibron Classics. ISBN 9780543914989.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
• Sedgwick, Alexander (1965). The Ralliement in French Politics, 1890–1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780674747517. kronstadt french fleet 1890.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
• Wilson, H. W. (1896). Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare From 1855 to 1895. Vol. 2. Boston: Little, Brown.
• "Maquette de bateau, Océan, cuirassé d'escadre, 1868" [Ship model, Océan, battleship, 1868], Musée national de la Marine, retrieved 17 November 2019
• "Frégates cuirassées Océan" [Central battery ships Ocean], La flotte de Napoléon III, retrieved 17 November 2019