Palestro-class ironclad floating battery

Paixhans (right) in 1862
Class overview
Name	Palestro class
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Dévastation class
Succeeded by	Embuscade class
Built	1859–1863
In service	1862–1871
Completed	4
Scrapped	4
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Ironclad floating battery
Displacement	1,563 t (1,538 long tons)
Length	47.5 m (155 ft 10 in)
Beam	14.04 m (46 ft 1 in)
Draft	3 m (9 ft 10 in)
Installed power	580 ihp (430 kW)
Propulsion	2 propellers, 2 steam engines
Sail plan	fore-and-aft rig
Speed	7–7.5 knots (13.0–13.9 km/h; 8.1–8.6 mph)
Complement	200
Armament	12 × 164.7 mm (6.48 in) Mle 1860 30 pdr guns
Armor	Waterline belt: 120 mm (4.7 in) Battery: 110 mm (4.3 in)

The Palestro class consisted of four ironclad floating batteries built for the French Navy in 1859–1862 to replace the Crimean War-built Dévastation class because of fears that the 1855 ships would deteriorate because they had been hastily built with green wood that was prone to rot quickly.^[1] Saigon caught fire and sank in 1863, but was salvaged and repaired. Pei-ho was struck from the navy list in 1869, but the others were commissioned during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.^[2]

In contrast to the Dévastation class, the Palestros were intended to serve as coastal-defense ships and were designed by the naval architect Henri Dupuy de Lôme to have greater mobility and seaworthiness than the older ships. They were also reduced in size to minimize their profile.^[3] The ships had an overall length of 47.5 m (155 ft 10 in), a beam of 14.04 m (46 ft 1 in) and a draft of 3 m (9 ft 10 in). They displaced 1,563 metric tons (1,538 long tons). The Palestro class was powered by a pair of high-pressure direct-acting steam engines, each driving a single propeller shaft. The engine was rated at 580 indicated horsepower (430 kW). The ships were designed to reach 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), but some were slightly faster. They were fitted with two masts using a fore-and-aft rig.^[2][4][1]

The Palestros carried a main battery of a dozen 164.7 mm (6.48 in) Mle 1860 30 pdr guns guns on the main deck. The ships were protected by a full-length waterline belt of wrought iron that was 120 mm (4.7 in) thick. Protection for the gun battery was 110 mm (4.3 in) thick.^[5] The ship's complement numbered 200 sailors of all ranks.^[4]

• de Balincourt, Captain & Vincent-Bréchignac, Captain (1973). "French Floating Batteries". F.P.D.S. Newsletter. I (2): 13–20. OCLC 41554533.
• Caruana, J. & Koehler, R. B. (1996). "Question 7/95: French Ironclad Floating Batteries". Warship International. XXXIII (4): 416–418. ISSN 0043-0374.
• Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "France". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 283–333. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Gille, Eric (1999). Cent ans de cuirassés français [A Century of French Battleships] (in French). Nantes: Marines. ISBN 2-909-675-50-5.
• Roberts, Stephen S. (2021). French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4533-0.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours [Dictionary of French Warships from Colbert to Today] (in French). Vol. Tome I: 1671–1870. Toulon: Roche. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.