{{short description|Gloire-class ironclad}} {{other ships|French ship Gloire}} {{more citations needed|date=January 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=laGloirePhotograph.jpg |image_caption=''Gloire'' anchored, 1869 }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=France |flag={{shipboxflag|France|naval}} |name=''Gloire'' |namesake=Glory |laid_down=4 March 1858 |launched=24 November 1859 |sponsor= |christened= |completed=August 1860 |struck=1879 |motto= |nickname= |fate=Scrapped, 1883 |notes= |badge= }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption= |class={{sclass|Gloire|ironclad}} |displacement={{cvt|5618|t|LT|lk=on}} |length={{Convert|78.22|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |beam={{Convert|17|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |draught={{Convert|8.48|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |depth= |hold_depth={{Convert|10.67|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |power=*{{Cvt|2500|ihp|lk=on}} *8 oval boilers |propulsion=*1 × Shaft *1 × HRCR-steam engine |sail_plan=Barquentine rigged |speed={{Convert|13|kn|lk=in}} |range={{convert|4000|km|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|8|kn}} |complement=570 officers and enlisted men |armament=* ''As built'': * 36 × {{Convert|164|mm|in|abbr=on}} Mle 1858 rifled muzzle-loading guns *''After 1868'': * 6 × Canon de 24 C modèle 1864 (9.4 in) Breech-loading guns * 2 × Canon de 19 C modèle 1864 (7.6 in) Mle 1866 Breech-loading guns |armour=*Hull: {{Convert|120|mm|in|abbr=on}} *Conning tower: {{Convert|100|mm|in|abbr=on}} |notes= }} }} The '''French ironclad ''Gloire''''' ({{IPA|fr|ɡlwaʁ}}, "Glory") was the first ocean-going ironclad, launched in 1859. She was developed after the Crimean War,<ref name=sinop>The Battle of Sinop at the start of the war convinced the world's naval powers that wooden warships could not withstand the new weapons.</ref> in response to new developments of naval gun technology, especially the Paixhans guns and rifled guns, which used explosive shells with increased destructive power against wooden ships. Her design was also influenced by the Anglo-French development of ironclad floating batteries to bombard Russian forts during the same war.
== Design and description == ''Gloire'' was designed by the French naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme as a 5,630-ton broadside ironclad with a wooden hull. Her 12 cm-thick (4.7 in) armour plates, backed with 43 cm (17 in) of timber, resisted hits by the experimental shooting of the strongest guns of the time (the French 50-pounder and the British 68-pounder) at full charge, at a distance of 20 metres (65 ft).
Her maximum speed was 13.1 knots but other reports suggested no more than 11.75 knots had been attained and that 11 knots was the practical maximum.<ref name=wells46>{{cite book |title=The immortal Warrior Britain's First and Last battleship |last=Wells |first=John |year=1987 |publisher=Kenneth Mason |isbn=0-85937-333-9 |page=46}}</ref>
As was common for the era, ''Gloire'' was constructed with sails as well as a steam-powered screw. The original rigging was a light barquentine rig providing 1,096 sq. m (11,800 sq. ft) of surface area. This was later increased to a full rig providing 2,508 sq. m (27,000 sq. ft) of surface.<ref name=warshipsio>{{Cite book | last = Jackson | first = Robert | title = Warships Inside Out | publisher = Thunder Bay Press | year = 2010 | location = San Diego, CA | pages = 10–15 | isbn =978-1-60710-109-3}}</ref>
== Service == {{expand section|date=January 2014}}
''Gloire'' was launched at the arsenal of Mourillon, Toulon, on 24 November 1859; and entered service in August 1860. She was struck off the French naval register in 1879, and scrapped in 1883.
The ship underwent preliminary trials in June 1860 with official trials on 20-21 of August, where she achieved 13.5 knots. In September of that year, she escorted the imperial yacht ''{{ill|French ship Aigle (1858)|lt=Aigle|fr|L'Aigle (yacht)}}'' carrying Emperor Napoleon III to Algiers. During a storm on the return voyage, the ''Gloire'' was the sole escort able to remain with the ''Aigle''. On 12 November, ''Gloire'' began comparative trials with the ''Algésiras,'' culminating in a trial report on 30 March 1861.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Stephen S. |title=French warships in the age of steam, 1859-1914: design, construction, careers and fates |date=2021 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |isbn=978-1-5267-4533-0 |location=Barnsley}}</ref>
== Importance in naval history == As the first ocean-going ironclad, ''Gloire'' rendered obsolete traditional unarmoured wooden ships-of-the-line, and all major navies soon began to build ironclads of their own.
== Gallery == <gallery mode=packed widths=180px> Image:LaGloirePhotography.jpg|Photograph of ''Gloire'', circa 1860, at the Musée de la Marine, Paris. Image:LaGloireLaunch.jpg|The launch of ''Gloire''. Image:Gloire.jpg|''Gloire'' sailing, 19th century print. Image:LaGloireModel.jpg|Scale model of ''Gloire'' at the Musée de la Marine. Image:Couronne-bougault-2.jpg|{{Ship|French ironclad|Couronne||2}}, near sister-ship of ''Gloire'' after it was rebuilt. </gallery>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== {{Commons category|La Gloire (ship, 1859)|''Gloire''}} *{{cite journal|last=de Balincourt|first=Captain|author2=Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain|year=1974 |title=The French Navy of Yesterday: Ironclad Frigates, Part I|journal=F.P.D.S. Newsletter |volume=II|issue=2|pages=12–15, 18 |oclc=41554533|name-list-style=amp}} *{{cite book |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 |editor1-last=Chesneau |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Kolesnik |editor2-first=Eugene M. |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=Greenwich |year=1979 |isbn=0-8317-0302-4 |name-list-style=amp |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2|chapter=France|author1-last=Campbell|author1-first=N. J. M.|pages=283–333}} * {{cite book|editor=Gardiner, Robert|title=Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905 |series=Conway's History of the Ship|year=1992|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London |isbn=1-55750-774-0}} * {{cite book|last=Gille|first=Eric|title=Cent ans de cuirassés français|publisher=Marines |location=Nantes |year=1999|isbn=2-909-675-50-5|language=French|trans-title=A Century of French Battleships}} *{{cite book|title=Warship 1996|editor-last1=McLean|editor-first1=David|editor-last2=Preston |editor-first2=Antony|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|year=1996 |isbn=0-85177-685-X|name-list-style=amp|editor-link2=Antony Preston|last=Jones|first=Colin |chapter=Entente Cordiale, 1865}} * {{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Stephen S.|title=French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|year=2021|location=Barnsley, UK|publisher=Seaforth Publishing |isbn=978-1-5267-4533-0}} *{{cite book |first=Jean-Michel |last=Roche |year=2005 |language=French|trans-title=A Dictionary of French Warships from Colbert to Today |title=Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours|volume=I: 1671 – 1870 |isbn=978-2-9525917-0-6 |oclc=165892922 |publisher=Group Retozel-Maury Millau}} *{{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
{{Gloire class ironclad}} {{French weapons of the 19th century}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloire}} Category:Ships built in Toulon Category:1859 ships Category:Gloire-class ironclads