The class was a group of ten unprotected cruisers built for the French Navy in the 1860s and 1870s. The class comprised ten ships: , , , , , , , , , and . The last two vessels were completed to a slightly different design, and are sometimes considered to be a separate sub-class.

Design In 1855, the French Navy drew up plans to modernize its cruising fleet, including thirty 1st-class steam corvettes and thirty 1st-class avisos. Seven ships of the latter category were built between the late 1850s and early 1860s. The naval engineer Jean-Baptiste Pastoureau-Labesse prepared the design for the class, based largely on the steam corvette . His proposal was approved on 13 August 1867, but Henri Dupuy de Lôme made several alterations following Pastoureau-Labesse's departure from the navy in August 1868. The new cruiser design followed the pattern set by the larger vessels of the , which had adopted a smaller number of larger guns over the traditional numerous but light armament of earlier cruisers. The intention was to allow even small cruisers to effectively engage coastal fortifications.

Two ships were authorized for the 1867 fiscal year, with four more added in the 1868 budget. The final tranche of four ships were authorized in 1869. During construction, two ships— and —were altered slightly, becoming a subclass. The changes were ordered by Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat, the French naval minister, who requested a new design based around a more powerful engine from Indret. The naval engineers at the submitted a proposal for a ship based on the cruiser , though by that time, Charles Rigault de Genouilly had replaced Chasseloup-Laubat as naval minister. The finalized design used the same hull as the basic design, but with some alterations to the upper works and the arrangement of the armament.

All ten vessels were initially classified as first-class avisos, but were later reclassified as third-class cruisers.

Characteristics The first eight ships were long at the waterline and long overall, with a beam of . They had an average draft of that was at most at the stern, and they displaced . The last two ships, and , different slightly in dimensions, being long at the waterline and . Their beam was identical, but draft decreased slightly to average and at the stern. Their displacement was slightly lower, at . All ten ships had wooden hulls, the first eight completed with straight stems, while the subclass had clipper bows. All ships had a crew of 154 officers and men.

The ships' propulsion system consisted of a single horizontal compound engine that drove a single screw propeller. Steam for the engine was provided by two coal-fired Scotch marine boilers, which were vented through a funnel located amidships. The propulsion system was designed to produce for a top speed of around . In service, these figures varied between and speeds of . On her initial speed trials, reached from . Coal storage for amounted to , which allowed the ships to steam for up to at a cruising speed of . could carry up to of coal, which extended her cruising radius considerably to . Each vessel was fitted with a three-masted barque rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages abroad.

The planned armament for the first eight class was to have been a single gun and two guns, but during construction several changes were made, including a reduction of the 164 mm weapons to guns but the addition of third gun of that caliber ( instead received a gun). instead had guns fitted instead of the 140 mm weapons. The 194 mm gun was immediately found to be too heavy for the ships, and so while the first ships were still in the midst of their sea trials, it was replaced across all members of the class with a single 164 mm gun, with the exception of , which retained her 194 mm gun until 1874. In all of the first eight ships, the main gun was placed on a rotating mount with an iron gun shield forward of the foremast. Several of the ships carried a single bronze mountain gun.

The latter pair of ships underwent similar evolutions for their armament during construction. Initially planned to carry two 194 mm guns in individual barbette mounts and a pair of 164 mm guns, one of the 194 mm pieces was ordered removed in 1869, and then in 1871, the other was replaced with a 164 mm gun while the original 164 mm guns were to be replaced with five 138 mm guns, two per broadside and one at the stern. By the time the two ships were completed in 1874, the armament had been standardized on six 138 mm M1870 guns, four of which were in rotating, shielded mounts on the broadside and the remaining pair in pivot mounts, one on the forecastle and the other on the poop deck. Both ships also carried the 84 mm mountain gun.

Modifications The first eight ships' armament was revised several times. By 1871, the 138 mm gun was removed, leaving the 164 mm gun and the three 140 mm weapons. Between 1873 and 1877, all eight of the vessels' armament was standardized on the 164 mm gun in the forward position and five 138 mm M1870 guns. received a single gun in 1875, and received a pair of Hotchkiss revolver cannon in 1878. The ships lost their 164 mm gun in favor of a sixth 138 mm weapon during refits that occurred between 1880 and 1888, and most of the cruisers had been fitted with between two and eight of the 37 mm Hotchkiss revolvers. Many of the vessels carried a field gun for use by landing parties beginning in 1884.

The subclass underwent fewer alterations to their guns after entering service. In 1878, had two of the 37 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon installed, and received five of the weapons in 1884. The latter vessel had a sixth Hotchkiss revolver added in 1889, by which time she had also taken on a 65 mm landing gun. During a refit in 1883, had her forecastle lengthened by .

Ships

+ Construction data Name Laid down Launched Completed Shipyard 19 November 1867 29 May 1869 July 1870 , Nantes 24 April 1869 Early 1870 15 April 1869 April 1870 28 April 1867 30 March 1869 4 September 1870 , Brest 24 January 1868 7 September 1869 17 August 1870 , Lorient 26 August 1870 1 March 1871 10 November 1867 6 August 1782 1 April 1873 , Brest 19 November 1867 4 July 1872 18 November 1874 17 August 1868 17 October 1872 10 September 1874 , Cherbourg 17 August 1868 19 September 1872 1 November 1874

Service history

Several of the ships were completed in time to serve during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. was sent into the Baltic Sea as part of the French fleet, but she did not see action. , which had been sent to Southeast Asia, operated briefly as a commerce raider, capturing a pair of German vessels before the war ended. similarly raided German commerce, but in European waters; she captured four prizes during her short raiding career, though one was deemed to have been an illegal capture. did not see wartime service, but she was activated briefly to transport prisoners from the Paris Commune shortly after the war.

was deployed to Southeast Asia in the early 1870s, and while there, she engaged in several actions with local pirates in 1872. embarked on a cruise across the Pacific Ocean from 1874 to 1877, during which her crew assisted with archaeological excavations in Peru, and came to the aid of a stranded British merchant ship. patrolled the Indian Ocean and along the east coast of Africa from 1871 to 1874. was employed as a fishery protection ship in the Atlantic in 1871, and then patrolled the north and central Atlantic from 1872 to 1875.

made another voyage to the Cochinchina station in 1877–1879. joined her there in 1878, remaining in the area until 1881. From 1877 to 1879, was sent for a tour of the Pacific. returned to the Pacific in 1879 as part of France's response to the War of the Pacific in South America. The following year, she assisted in the suppression of a rebellion against colonial rule in French Polynesia.

was struck from the naval register in December 1884, the first member of the class to leave service. A typhoon drove ashore at Tamatave, Madagascar, on 22 February 1888, destroying the ship. She was the only member of the class to be lost. was struck from the naval register in January 1889 and converted into a storage hulk from 1889. and were stuck in June that year and also hulked. was struck in 1894, used as a training ship from then until 1896, when she was broken up. was also removed from the naval register in 1894 and used in a variety of secondary roles over the following years. was struck in 1895 and sold at Lorient the following year. was taken out of service in 1896 and used as a coal hulk in Corsica until 1909, when she was sold. met a similar end, being reduced to a coal storage hulk in Bizerte in 1897 and being sold for scrap there in 1907. was eventually sold at Lorient in 1913. was eventually broken up in 1917. was eventually sold for scrap in 1920. followed her to the breakers' yard in 1929.

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