French corvette Jeanne d'Arc
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''Jeanne d'Arc'' was a wooden-hulled armored
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
built for the French Navy in the late 1860s. She was named for Joan of Arc, a Roman Catholic
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
and heroine of the
Hundred Years War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...
. ''Jeanne d'Arc'' participated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and remained in commission afterwards, unlike many of her sisters. The ship was condemned in 1883, but nothing further is known as to her disposition.


Design and description

The sIronclad is the all-encompassing term for armored warships of this period. Armored corvettes were originally designed for the same role as traditional wooden corvettes, but this rapidly changed as the size and expense of these ships caused them to be used as second-class armored ships. 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.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 26 Like most ironclads of their era they were equipped with a metal-reinforced ram.Gardiner, p. 302 ''Jeanne d'Arc'' measured between perpendiculars, with a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of . She had a mean draft of and displaced . Her crew numbered 316 officers and men.


Propulsion

The ship had a single horizontal return connecting-rod steam engine driving a single propeller. Her engine was powered by four oval boilers. On sea trials the engine produced and the ship reached . Unlike all of her sisters except , she had two funnels, mounted side by side. ''Jeanne d'Arc'' 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

''Jeanne d'Arc'' mounted four of her Modèle 1864
breech-loading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech ...
guns in the central battery on the battery deck. The other two 194-millimeter 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 In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
Mle 1870 gun weighed while the gun itself weighed . The gun fired its shell at a
muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately to i ...
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

''Jeanne d'Arc'' had a complete wrought iron waterline
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, 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.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 27 The unarmored portions of her sides were protected by iron plates.


Service

''Jeanne d'Arc'' was laid down at
Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
in 1865 and launched on 28 September 1867. The ship began her sea trials on 9 March 1868 and was put into reserve at Brest in 1869. She was commissioned on 12 April 1870, shortly before the Franco-Prussian War began, and assigned to the Northern Squadron.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1976, p. 29 On 24 July 1870 she departed Cherbourg in company with the rest of the Northern Squadron and they cruised off the Danish port of Frederikshavn between 28 July and 2 August until they entered the Baltic Sea. The squadron, now renamed the Baltic Squadron, remained in the Baltic, attempting to blockade Prussian ports on the Baltic until ordered to return to Cherbourg on 16 September.de Balincourt and Vincent-Bréchignac 1975, p. 30 On 1 August 1873 ''Jeanne d'Arc'' was in
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, Spain and departed later that day bound for Cadiz. On 21 July 1875, ''Jeanne d'Arc'' was participating in a naval exercise involving six ironclads – the broadside ironclad , operating as the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
, and five central battery ironclads including ''Jeanne d′Arc'' – and a number of smaller ships in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the east coast of
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
. The ironclads were steaming in beautiful weather at in two parallel columns, with ''Magenta'' leading one column, followed by ''Jeanne d′Arc'' and , and leading the other, followed by and , when at 12:00 noon the
admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
commanding the
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ordered the
screw corvette Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for exam ...
, operating as a
dispatch vessel Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...
, to pass astern of ''Magenta'' to receive orders. Attempting to place his ship in the column between ''Magenta'' and ''Jeanne d′Arc'', the
commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of ''Forfait'' misjudged his turn, and ''Jeanne d′Arc'' collided with ''Forfait''. The impact was barely noticeable aboard ''Jeanne d′Arc'', but her ram bow tore into ''Forfait''s side. ''Forfait'' sank 14 minutes later, her crew of 160 taking safely to her boats; her commanding officer floated free from the bridge as ''Forfait'' sank beneath him, but also was rescued.dawlishchronicles.blogspot.com The ramming of the ''Forfait'' by the ''Jeanne d’Arc'', 1875
/ref> On 3 December 1875, ''Jeanne d′Arc'' became the flagship of
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
Bonie, but she was placed in reserve on 1 January 1876 at Brest, France. ''Jeanne d'Arc'' was recommissioned on 12 April 1879 for service with the Levant Squadron. She was condemned on 28 August 1883 and nothing further is known of her fate.


Notes


Footnotes


References

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeanne D'arc Ships built in France Alma-class ironclads 1867 ships Maritime incidents in July 1875