Algésiras-class ship of the line

The Algésiras class consisted of five second-rank, 90-gun, steam-powered ships of the line built for the French Navy in the 1850s. Most of the ships participated in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 or the Second French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. Beginning in the mid-1860s, they were decommissioned or converted into troopships before being scrapped beginning in the early 1870s.

Description
The Algésiras-class ships were repeats of the pioneering ship of the line FRENCH SHIP Napoléon and were also designed by naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme. They had a length at the waterline of 71.23 m, a beam of 16.8 m and a depth of hold of 8.16 m. The ships displaced 5121 t and had a draught of 8.45 m at deep load. Their crew numbered 913 officers and ratings.

The primary difference between Napoléon and the Algésiras class was that the boilers of the latter ships were moved forward of the engines. They were powered by a pair of either horizontal-return connecting-rod or trunk steam engine that drove the single propeller shaft using steam provided by eight boilers. The engines were rated at 900 nominal horsepower and produced around 2057 - 2204 ihp. During their sea trials, they reached speeds of 12.2 - 13 kn. The ships could carry 570 t of coal. They were fitted with three masts and ship rigged with a sail area of 2010 sqm.

The armament of the Algésiras-class ships generally consisted of eighteen 36-pounder (174.8 mm) smoothbore cannon and sixteen 223.3 mm Paixhans guns on the lower gundeck and thirty-four 30-pounder 164.7 mm cannon on the upper gundeck. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were twenty 163 mm Paixhans guns and a pair of 163 mm rifled muzzle-loading guns. FRENCH SHIP Intrépide, converted into a troopship while still under construction, was armed only with four 30-pounder cannon.