Colbert-class ironclad

The Colbert class were a pair of armored frigates built for the French Navy during the 1870s. The ships served as the flagships of the commander and deputy commander of the Mediterranean Squadron for most of their careers. The sister ships took part in the French conquest of Tunisia, notably shelling and landing troops in Sfax in 1881. They were relegated to second-line roles in 1894–95 before being condemned in 1900. The ships were finally sold for scrap in 1909.

Design and description

The Colbert-class ships were designed by Constructor Sabattier as improved versions of the ironclad Richelieu and were the last ships authorized by the 1857 Naval Program. They reverted to a single propeller shaft to improve their sailing qualities and to lessen the chance of the propellers being fouled by fallen rigging. As central battery ironclads, they had their armament concentrated amidships. Like most ironclads of their era, they were equipped with a plough-shaped ram. The ships' crew numbered 774 officers and men. Their metacentric height was low, a little above 0.6 meters (2 ft).

Ironclad warship

An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates used in the early part of the second half of the 19th century. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in November 1859. The British Admiralty had been considering armored warships since 1856 and prepared a draft design for an armored corvette in 1857; in early 1859 the Royal Navy started building two iron-hulled armored frigates, and by 1861 had made the decision to move to an all-armored battle fleet. After the first clashes of ironclads (both with wooden ships and with one another) took place in 1862 during the American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the most powerful warship afloat. This type of ship would come to be very successful in the American Civil War.

Ironclads were designed for several roles, including as high seas battleships, coastal defense ships, and long-range cruisers. The rapid evolution of warship design in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled vessel that carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the steel-built, turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the 20th century. This change was pushed forward by the development of heavier naval guns (the ironclads of the 1880s carried some of the heaviest guns ever mounted at sea), more sophisticated steam engines, and advances in metallurgy which made steel shipbuilding possible.

Ironclad (film)

Ironclad is a 2011 adventure film directed by Jonathan English. Written by English and Erick Kastel, based on a screenplay by Stephen McDool, the cast includes James Purefoy, Brian Cox, Kate Mara, Paul Giamatti, Vladimir Kulich, Mackenzie Crook, Jason Flemyng, Derek Jacobi and Charles Dance. The film chronicles the siege of Rochester Castle by King John in 1215. The film was shot entirely in Wales in 2009 and produced on a budget of $25 million.

Plot

A prologue describes how the barons of England, aided by the Knights Templar, fought against totalitarian King John in a war that lasted more than three years. It ended with the king signing the Magna Carta, a document granting rights to all English freemen.

King John regrets succumbing to the pressure of the barons to sign the Magna Carta. Soon after, he hires an army of Danish mercenaries under the leadership of a warlord, Captain Tiberius, to recapture John's kingdom under the presumption that the Pope has agreed to keep Christian missionaries out of Denmark.

Ironclad (game)

Ironclad is a miniatures wargame written by Tom Wham and Don Lowry and published by Guidon Games in 1973. The rules simulate American Civil War naval combat such as the 1862 battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia.

See also

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