156 
THE WORLD’S WARSHIPS. 
the great delay in their completion. The Victorieuse was commenced 
in 1869, but only finished in 1877, she was a little larger than the old 
Alma, with better engines. To carry a better armament, two small 
barbettes protrude over her sides, each carrying a 24 cm gun, with four 
more of these pieces in her central battery on the main deck. The 
belt and battery were left of the same thickness, six inches and 4*5 
inches. 
The other two vessels are precisely similar; they were begun in 
1868 and 1870, and finished in 1877 and 1880 respectively. They are 
such poor vessels of wooden construction and weak defence that they 
are hardly worth our consideration, as they are not likely to be left 
much longer in the service. 
Lord Brassey, I observe, now ranks them as armoured cruisers, but 
their coal endurance is not great enough to make them useful as such. 
An improvement on this group is the Duguesclin, built of steel. 
She is 1800 more tons displacement, making it close on 6000 tons. 
The belt being increased to 10 inches and that of the barbettes to 
eight inches. The general arrangement, however, is that of the 
Admiral Duperre. The armament is a 24 CTU gun in each of the four 
barbettes, a 19 cm gun under the forecastle, and six 14 cm guns on the 
main deck. It will be remembered that the Duperre was first fully 
rigged before three military masts took their place, consequently her 
smaller and weaker sister was rigged as a brig with royals. These 
yards and upper masts have been since removed. She has a peculiarly 
sloping stern, tumbling home in a remarkable manner, one round 
telescopic funnel abaft, but not clear of her foremost barbettes. Her 
masts, however, would distinguish her from the proper Admiral class. 
A sister to the Duguesclin is the Yauban, similar in every way. 
There are also two similar ships to these, the Turenne and the 
Bayard, only built of wood. It is easy to remember that these four 
Generals are copies of the Admiral class. As cruisers their weak 
point would be their lack of coal, which, however, is assisted in the 
two last ships by being fully rigged as ships with royals, which still 
remain. I believe the Turenne is only calculated to carry sufficient 
coal for three days five hours, or under 1100 knots. The Bayard can 
but carry 400 tons, while her consumption at 14 knots is 110 tons a 
day and at 12 knots 54 tons. 
With regard to coast defenders, it must be borne in mind that by 
this term the French include vessels capable of rather more extended 
use than we attach to the term “ coast defence vessels.” 
Of the group prior to 1872 none uncondemned remain. The first 
of the new group is the Tonnerre, commenced in 1873 and completed 
in 1879. 
She is not unlike our Glatton, but nearly half as large again. Thus 
she is 248 feet long, 58 feet beam, and nearly 6000 tons displacement. 
Her low hull is armoured all round the sides and ends with from 13 
inches to 10 inches of armour, her deck is slightly curved, and is two 
inches thick. The redoubt or central breastwork covers about half 
the deck in length and two-thirds in breadth. On the fore part of 
this again is a circular revolving turret taking two 27 cm 28-ton guns. 
