Paddle corvettes (2nd class, 300 nhp)

COLIGNY (launched 1850)
EUMENIDE (launched 1848)
GORGONE (launched 1848)
TANGER class (launched 1849-51)


COLIGNY paddle corvette (2nd class)

Displacement:  1032t
Dimensions: 172ft 2in wl, 180ft 1in deck x 29ft 7in ext x 13ft 2in mean, 14ft 1in max.
Same, meters: 52.48, 54.90 x 9.02 x 4.02, 4.28m
Machinery: 300nhp (Rochefort). Direct, tubular boilers. Coal 215t
Hull material: Iron
Armament: (1856) 4-16cm shell
Complement: 128

Name           Builder     Laid down Launched  Commiss.  Fate         
COLIGNY Rochefort 27.11.45 5.11.50 7.4.51 Stk. 19.11.88

Class. In 8.43 side-lever engines of 220nhp were ordered from Rochefort for a projected ship named Coligny, and soon afterward similar engines were ordered at Indret for a ship named Eclaireur. Plans by Hubert for Coligny were approved in 9.45. In 7.46 the navy decided to use the latest technology to increase the horsepower of Coligny to 300nhp and to build Eclaireur as a 200nhp aviso. New hulls (Laborieux and Souffleur) were later built for the two 220nhp engines.

Disposal. Coligny was BU 1889.



EUMENIDE paddle corvette (2nd class)

Displacement:  936t
Dimensions: 183ft 9in wl, 196ft 0in deck x 30ft 6in mld, 30ft 7in ext x 10ft 2in mean, 11ft 0in max.
Same, meters: 56.00, 59.74 x 9.30, 9.32 x 3.10, 3.36m
Machinery: 300nhp (Hallette). Oscillating cylinders, direct, tubular boilers, trials 8kts. Coal 140t
Hull material: Iron
Armament: (Design) 2-30p No.1, 4-16cm shell. (1854) 4-16cm shell
Complement: 128

Name           Builder     Laid down Launched  Commiss.  Fate         
EUMENIDE Chaigneau 1.10.46 23.5.48 24.5.49 Stk. 2.2.87

Class. On 29 May 1845 France signed a treaty with England committing each country to maintain 26 ships, including a substantial number of steamers, on the West Africa station to eradicate the slave trade. The navy did not have enough steamers to fulfill this obligation, and eight new ones were built under a special law of 19 July. These ships all had iron hulls and were all built by contract to encourage the development of the French steam engine and shipbuilding industries. They included two paddle corvettes of 300nhp (Euménide and Gorgone), four paddle avisos of 200nhp (the Mouette group), and two screw corvette-avisos (Biche and Sentinelle). Six sail brig-avisos of the Zéphyr group were also built at the same time for the same purpose.

Plans by Dupuy de Lôme were approved for Euménide in 1.46 and contracts were awarded in 5.46 for the hull and 8.46 for the engines. The builder of Euménide's engines, Hallette, was one of the navy's earliest major French suppliers of steam machinery and followed the successful pattern of Penn in designing his direct-acting engines. His firm went bankrupt while building the engines, however, and machinery trials in 10.49 were a failure, giving only 247nhp and 8 knots. The firm was penalized for imperfections in the machinery and failure of the boilers to produce enough steam. The ship remained idle at Rochefort, where in April 1853 the machinery was modified and repaired with good results. She left Rochefort for the first time in 1854. A poop was added before 1867. The beam over her paddle boxes was 53ft 1in.

Disposal. Euménide became a mooring hulk at Lorient and was BU 1907.



GORGONE paddle corvette (2nd class)

Displacement:  990t
Dimensions: 196ft 10in wl x 31ft 2in mld, 31ft 3in ext x 10ft 7in mean
Same, meters: 60.00 x 9.50, 9.52 x 3.22m
Machinery: 300nhp. As Euménide, trials 8kts
Hull material: Iron
Armament: (1848) 4-16cm shell
Complement: 128

Name           Builder     Laid down Launched  Commiss.  Fate         
GORGONE Chaigneau 1.10.46 14.8.48 16.10.49 Lost 19.12.69

Class. This ship was built under the same program as her half sister Euménide. Plans by Sochet were approved for her in 1.46 and her hull was contracted for in 5.46. The original contractor for her engines, Benet, asked to be released from his contract in 2.47 and the contract was awarded to Hallette in 6.47 to help that struggling firm stay in business. Her machinery suffered from the same problems as that of Euménide and developed only 240nhp in initial trials. It was fixed in May and June 1853, and the ship saw her first active service in 1854.

Disposal. Gorgone was wrecked on the Black Rocks at Brest.



TANGER class paddle corvette (2nd class)

Displacement:  1119t
Dimensions: 180ft 5in wl, 184ft 5in deck x 30ft 5in mld, 31ft 0in ext x 12ft 6in mean
Same, meters: 55.00, 56.20 x 9.28, 9.45 x 3.80m
Machinery: 300nhp (Indret in Tanger, Lorient in Tisiphone) Oscillating cylinders, direct, tubular boilers, trials 10.5kts (Tanger), 10.32kts (Tisiphone)
Hull material: Wood
Armament: 4-16cm shell (Tanger). Later Tanger had 4-14cm rifles while Tisiphone had 6-12cm bronze rifles.
Complement: 128

Name           Builder     Laid down Launched  Commiss.  Fate         
TANGER Brest 6.8.47 26.3.49 6.6.50 Stk. 29.12.74
TISIPHONE Lorient 9.11.47 27.8.51 21.4.54 Stk. 22.7.72

Class. These ships were planned in mid-1846 with iron hulls, but unfavorable artillery experiments against iron hulls in both England and France and problems with fouling in French ships caused the French to revert around 12.46 to wood hulls for combatant ships. Hull plans by Gervaize were approved in 7.47. The engines of both were built on plans drafted at Indret in 6.46 using Penn's pattern of oscillating cylinders. The sail area of Tanger was 1055 sq.yd.

Disposals. Tanger was BU 1889 and Tisiphone was BU 1875.