''Valmy'', named after the

Battle of Valmy The Battle of Valmy, also known as the Cannonade of Valmy, was the first major victory by the army of Kingdom of France (1791–92), France during the French Revolutionary Wars, Revolutionary Wars that followed the French Revolution. The battl ...

, was the largest

three-decker A three-decker was a sailing warship which carried her principal carriage-mounted guns on three fully armed decks. Usually additional (smaller) guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck), but this was not a continuous ba ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, and the largest

tall ship A tall ship is a large, traditionally-rigging, rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a r ...

ever built in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Design

The design of ''Valmy'' was decided by the

Commission de Paris The Commission de Paris was a body of French naval engineers gathered in 1821 to design the future frigates and ships of the line of the French Navy for the post-Empire era. Presided by Jacques-Noël Sané, the Commission comprised Jean-Marguerite ...

, as a way to modernise the 118-gun ''Océan'' class design and its derivatives. The most radical departure from previous designs was the shedding of

tumblehome Tumblehome or tumble home is the narrowing of a Hull (watercraft), hull above the waterline, giving less beam (nautical), beam at the level of the main deck. The opposite of tumblehome is flare (ship), flare. A small amount of tumblehome is nor ...

and adoption of vertical sides, shared by the ''Hercule'' and ''Suffren'' classes; this significantly increased the space available for upper batteries, but reduced the

stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics *Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Exponential stability ** Linear stability **Lyapunov stability ** Marginal s ...

of the ship. ''Valmy'' was laid down at Brest in 1838 as ''Formidable'' and launched in 1847. She displayed poor performances during her trials, especially with a tendency to roll, and was generally considered a failure. Stability problems were to some extent improved by the addition of a high belt of wood sheathing at the waterline. The outcome of the project led the French Navy to return to a more traditional design with the next generation of ships, which would lead to ''Bretagne''.

Career

''Valmy'' participated in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, where she proved difficult to manoeuvre and, like other sailing vessels, often had to be towed by steam ships. During the bombardment of Sevastopol, the only time ''Valmy'' fired her guns in anger, she was towed by the new steam two-decker ''Napoléon''. On 13 November 1855, ''Valmy'' collided with the French

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''Etoile du Nord'' in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. The schooner was dismasted and ''Valmy'' put in to

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Spain. She returned to Brest in 1855, where she was disarmed. In 1864, she was renamed ''Borda'' and became a training hulk for the French Naval Academy. Upon her replacement in 1890, she was renamed ''Intrépide''. She was stricken from the navy list in 1891 and scrapped soon afterwards.

Gallery

File:Borda auguste mayer 1867-reduc.jpg, ''Visit by Imperatrice Eugénie aboard the ''Borda'' (ex-''Valmy'') on 26 July 1867'', by Auguste Mayer File:Valmy mp3h9323.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy'' File:Valmy mp3h9320.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy'' File:Valmy mp3h9344.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy'' File:Valmy mp3h9346.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy'' File:MuseeMarine-Valmy-p1000470.jpg, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy'' File:Valmy-MnM 19 MG 4-IMG 5871.JPG, 1/40th-scale model of the ''Valmy''

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

MN Valmy
Drachinifel, Youtube *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valmy (1847) Ships of the line of the French Navy Ships built in France Crimean War naval ships of France 1847 ships