was an unprotected cruiser of the built for the French Navy in the late 1860s. The French initially attempted to mount a gun aboard the ship to improve their shore bombardment capability. Such a large gun proved to be too heavy, and it was instead replaced with a gun. briefly served as a fishery protection ship after entering service in 1871, followed by an assignment to the Atlantic Station from 1872 to 1875. The ship was then sent to East Asian waters in 1881; by 1883, tensions with China had increased over French colonial aspirations in Tonkin. The ship saw little action during the Tonkin campaign, but did participate in the blockade of the region in 1883 and 1884. After being recalled later that year, was struck from the naval register, though she remained in the navy's inventory until being sold to ship breakers in 1903.
Design
The of unprotected cruiser was ordered as part of a major construction program to modernize the French cruising fleet. The ships were designed in the late 1860s; the ships were based on the earlier steam corvette , but influenced by the armament adopted for the larger s. The adopted an armament of just a few medium-caliber guns instead of a larger number of light weapons as had been used in older French cruisers. The French Navy wanted the new ships to be able to bombard coastal fortifications, which required the larger guns. A total of ten ships were ordered to the design.
Characteristics was long overall, and she had a beam of . She had an average draft of that was at most at the stern, and she displaced . She had a wooden hull with a straight stem. Her normal crew numbered 154 officers and sailors.
The ship's 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 . Coal storage amounted to , which allowed the ships to steam for up to at a cruising speed of . The ship was fitted with a three-masted barque rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages abroad.
was completed with an armament that consisted of one rifled gun and three guns. By 1871, her 194 mm gun had been replaced with a 164 mm gun, the former having been deemed to be too heavy. The ship's weaponry was changed again in the mid-1870s, which then consisted of the 164 mm gun and five guns. In the 1880s, the 164 mm gun was also replaced with a 138 mm gun, and at least two Hotchkiss revolver cannon were added.
Service history Work on the new cruiser began with her keel laying on 24 January 1868 at the shipyard in Lorient. She was launched on 7 September 1869, after which fitting-out work commenced. The ship was placed in limited commission on 17 August 1870 for sea trials, which continued into September, when she was pronounced ready for service. In April 1871, sailed from Cherbourg to serve as a fishery protection vessel in the waters off Iceland. After completing her patrol, she was decommissioned in Cherbourg on 29 December that year. next recommissioned on 22 February 1872 for service on the Newfoundland and Antilles stations in the Atlantic, which lasted until late 1875. On 21 September, she took on a pair of men who had been badly injured in an accident aboard the screw frigate and carried them back to France. She was decommissioned again on 31 October 1875.
was sent on abroad again in 1881 to serve with the (Naval Division of the Sea of China and Japan). In September, she was ordered to visit the primary ports on the island of Borneo, where the British had recently seized territory in North Borneo. By January 1882, the unit consisted of the ironclad , the unprotected cruisers and , and the gunboat , and the unit was commanded by Rear Admiral Charles Meyer. Later that year, was replaced by the cruiser , but Meyer's command remained otherwise unchanged, continuing into early 1883. Tensions in the region had risen considerably by mid-1883, particularly after the Battle of Hanoi in April. As a result, significant reinforcements under Rear Admiral Amédée Courbet were dispatched in early 1883 to strengthen French naval forces in the area as the Tonkin campaign got underway. With the arrival of Courbet's reinforcements, the unit was re-designated the Far East Squadron.
was sent to Shanghai, China, in June 1883. As a result, she was not involved in the Battle of Thuận An in August 1883, where the bulk of Courbet's forces sent bombarded and then captured the Vietnamese coastal forts, or the Battle of Phủ Hoài, where only small gunboats could be used. In September, was relieved at Shanghai by , allowing the former to sail to Hong Kong, arriving there on 7 September. From there, she sailed to Hạ Long Bay on the Tonkin coast; at that time, it was expected that she would be ordered to return home, but the fighting in the area in August precluded her departure. The French thereafter embarked on a blockade of the Tonkin coast, but and the other cruisers had few opportunities for success, owing to the limited trade in the region under normal circumstances, let alone during wartime. During this period, later in 1883, participated in the occupation of Quảng Yên. Blockade operations continued until the Tianjin Accord was signed in May 1884, and during this period, the cruisers alternated one week on patrol with another at anchor with the rest of the squadron at Hạ Long Bay.
was recalled home in late 1884, and after arriving, was struck from the naval register on 16 December. She was placed for sale that year, but was not sold for several years. She was last listed in the Navy's inventory in 1886, but she was not actually sold to ship breakers until 1903. She was subsequently broken up in Cherbourg.
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