The Bélier class, sometimes called the Cerbère class, consisted of four ironclad rams built for the French Navy in the 1870s.
Design and development The primary role of the preceding ironclad ram, , was to defend the French coast with its primary weapon being its ram. While that ship was still under construction the French Navy decided that it needed ships capable of attacking enemy coastal fortifications using its guns while retaining a ram. The naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme also increased the thickness of the Bélier classs armor to counter the increasing power of naval guns since Taureau had been designed.
The Bélier-class ships had an overall length of , a beam of and a draft of . They displaced . They were powered by a pair of two-cylinder direct-acting steam engines that used steam provided by six boilers to drive each propeller shaft. The engine cylinders had a bore of and a stroke of . The engines were rated at a total of that was intended to give the ships a speed of . During her sea trials in July 1872, Bélier reached a speed of from and a boiler pressure of . The ships carried a maximum of of coal that gave them a range of at a speed of . They had a metacentric height of . The ship's complement numbered 147 sailors of all ranks.
The Bélier class carried a main battery of two Mle 1864 or 1870 rifled breech-loading guns in a turret in the bow. The ships were protected by a full-length waterline belt of wrought iron that was thick. This had a total height of of which was below the waterline and above it. The turret sat above a barbette that housed the turret machinery; both had armor thick. The deck armor was thick in Bélier and Cerbère and in the other two.
Ships Name Built Laid down Launched Completed Fate
Arsenal de Cherbourg 1 April 1865 29 August 1870 10 June 1872 Struck 8 July 1896
Arsenal de Lorient 5 December 1865 26 March 1872 16 April 1873 Struck 24 April 1896
Arsenal de Brest 14 September 1865 23 April 1868 20 September 1868 Struck 11 December 1886
Arsenal de Rochefort 1 April 1865 9 March 1871 20 July 1874 Struck 13 February 1892
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