Ironclad Gloire

The Gloire(launched: 1859) was the first ever ocean-going ironclad warship. The ship was developed after the Crimean War when the French witnessed the awesome power of exploding shells. The old wooden ships were no match for the exploding shells, so to counter their effect, and to somewhat stabilize the balance of power between French and British navies, the French decided to develop a new warship.

The ship was designed by Dupuy de Lome. According to the design, the iron covered and shielded the wooden hull. It was powered by an internal steam engine, with 3 masts of sail. It was manned by 570 sailors. The Gloire was armed with 36 x 160mm rifled guns initially. Later the Glire was armed with 8 x 240mm Breech Loading(model 1864)guns, and 6 x 193mm Breech Loading guns(model 1866).

Although this ship can be considered to have caused a revolution in warship construction and design, its edge over the British Navy ships lasted for only a year, as in 1860 the British launched their own iron-hulled ironclad vessel HMS Warrior, as compared to wooden hulled Gloire.