The Provence class was designed by naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme as an enlarged version of the s with thicker armor, more powerful guns, and better seakeeping qualities. The ships had an overall length of 82.90NaN0, a beam of 17.060NaN0, and a draft of 8.4m (27.6feet) at deep load. They displaced 5810sp=usNaNsp=us.[1] All of the ships except had wooden hulls; that ship had an iron hull.[2] The Provence-class ships had a metacentric height of about 4.5feet and did not roll as badly as the Gloires.[3] They had a crew of 579–594 officers and enlisted men.[4]
The ships of the Provence class had a single horizontal-return connecting-rod compound steam engine that drove a four-bladed, 6.1m (20feet) propeller,[5] using steam provided by eight boilers at a maximum pressure of 1.8kg/cm2.[4] The engine was rated at 1,000 nominal horsepower or 3200PS and was intended to give the ships a speed in excess of 13kn. Available records of their sea trials show that they achieved speeds of 13.2- from 2918-.[4] The Provence class carried between of coal[3] which allowed them to steam for 2410nmi at a speed of .[6] They were fitted with a three-masted barque rig that had a sail area of 1960sqm.[5]
The main battery of the Provence-class ships was intended to be thirty 164.7sp=usNaNsp=us Modèle 1858–60 rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns, but this was changed to eleven 1941NaN1 Modèle 1864 smoothbore muzzle-loading guns in 1865.[4] [5] [6] It is uncertain if any received their intended armament, although naval historian N. J. M. Campbell states that, and, three of the first ships completed, were armed with a mix of ten 164.7 mm smoothbores, twenty-two 164.7 mm RMLs and a pair of 220sp=usNaNsp=us RML howitzers.[3] Ten of the 194 mm Modèle 1864 guns were mounted on the broadside and one was on a pivot mount below the forecastle deck as a chase gun. Three years later, their armament was changed to eight 2401NaN1 RMLs and four 194 mm smoothbores.[4]
From the upper deck down to below the waterline, the sides of the ships were completely armored with of wrought iron. The sides of the battery itself were protected with of armor.[4] The conning tower's sides consisted of 102mm armor plates.[6]
| Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal de Cherbourg | 28 January 1861 | 12 June 1864 | May 1865 | Condemned, 12 November 1886[7] | ||
| Arsenal de Brest | 24 January 1861 | 26 April 1865 | 5 December 1867 | Condemned, 3 October 1883 | ||
| Arsenal de Rochefort | 11 February 1861 | 6 September 1865 | 6 November 1867 | Stricken from the navy list, 19 October 1882[8] | ||
| Arsenal de Lorient | 10 June 1861 | 19 December 1863 | 7 June 1865 | Scuttled, 1901[9] | ||
| Arsenal de Brest | 27 February 1861 | 19 August 1864 | 1 November 1865 | Stricken, 19 January 1882 | ||
| Arsenal de Toulon | align=center rowspan=3 | March 1861 | 29 October 1863 | 1 February 1865 | Condemned, 3 May 1884 | |
| 28 December 1865 | 1 May 1867 | Stricken, 10 January 1893[10] | ||||
| 29 September 1864 | 25 March 1865 | 19 November 1888[11] | ||||
| Arsenal de Lorient | 28 January 1861 | 18 August 1864 | 21 October 1867 | Stricken, 1890[12] | ||
| Arsenal de Brest | 23 May 1861 | 18 August 1864 | 25 March 1867 | Condemned, 9 December 1886[13] |