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  Tonnerre 1885  

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Tonnerre			Arsenal de Lorient	10/1873	9/1875	1879	stricken 1905
Fulminant			Arsenal de Cherbourg	1/1875	8/1877	1882	stricken 1908

Technical data

Displacement normal, t	Tonnerre: 5765 Fulminant: 5871
Displacement full, t
Length, m	73.6 pp 76.0 oa
Breadth, m	17.6
Draught, m	6.50 - 7.19 max
No of shafts	1
Machinery	1 HC, 8 cylindrical boilers
Power, h. p.	4200 - 4500
Max speed, kts	13.7
Fuel, t	coal 390
Endurance, nm(kts)	1400(10)
Armour, mm	wrought iron; belt: 330 - 250, breastwork: 330, turret: 330 - 300, deck: 50
Armament	1 x 2 - 274/20 M1875 No.2
Complement	220

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

Single-turret vessels with the hull mostly steel though retaining wrought iron armour. The turret was 10.5m in diameter with a central fixed 1.4m diameter shaft which supported a conning tower protected by an armoured collar on the turret. The superstructure was only 2.4m wide and it was theoretically possible to fire right astern, though it was reported that an attempt by Tonnerre to do so in 1884 blew away the fore pan of the superstructure, Tonnerre is also said to have come near to capsizing when turning hard a port under the combined action of screw and rudder. She had the reconstructed engine of the Normandie.

Ship protection

The belt was 330mm amidships with 250mm forward and 300mm aft and there was a 50mm deck over the belt outside the breastwork.

Modernizations

1890s, Tonnerre: + 4 x 1 - 47/40 M1885, 4 x 5 - 37/20 M1885

1890s, Fulminant: + 4 x 1 - 47/40 M1885, 6 x 5 - 27/20 M1872

Naval service

During the 1890s both monitors were employed as torpedo depot ships.