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.
The Algésiras-class ships were repeats of the pioneering ship of the line and were also designed by naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme. They had a length at the waterline of 71.23m (233.69feet), a beam of 16.8m (55.1feet) and a depth of hold of 8.16m (26.77feet). The ships displaced 5121t and had a draught of 8.45m (27.72feet) at deep load. Their crew numbered 913 officers and ratings.[1]
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-. During their sea trials, they reached speeds of 12.2kn13kn. The ships could carry 570t of coal. They were fitted with three masts and ship rigged[1] with a sail area of .[2]
The armament of the Algésiras-class ships generally consisted of eighteen 36-pounder smoothbore cannon and sixteen Paixhans guns on the lower gundeck and thirty-four 30-pounder cannon on the upper gundeck. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were twenty Paixhans guns and a pair of 163 mm rifled muzzle-loading guns.[1], converted into a troopship while still under construction, was armed only with four 30-pounder cannon.[3]
| Name | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate[4] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1853 | 4 October 1855 | 10 April 1856 | Destroyed by fire, 25 November 1906 | ||
| 4 March 1853 | 20 March 1855 | 8 May 1856 | Scrapped, 1872 | ||
| 19 August 1853 | 15 September 1856 | 20 February 1858 | Scrapped, 1897 | ||
| 2 September 1853 | 17 September 1864 | 8 May 1865 | Sank by accident, May 1913 | ||
| 11 April 1853 | 25 October 1855 | 24 November 1856 | Scrapped, 1873–1874 |