Not one of the foregoing French ships of the early period conformed to conditions which were laid down officially in 1872 as those requisite for first-class French iron-clads, _viz._, that they should be constructed of iron (or steel), with water-tight compartments, be armored with plates 12 inches thick, with decks from 2 to 2½ inches thick, armed with guns of 24 centimetres calibre, commanding certain prescribed ranges of fire, and furnished with spurs or ram stems. There were, however, four ships then under construction or trial which did conform to the prescribed conditions, _viz._, the two already spoken of—the _Courbet_ and _Dévastation_, and two others named the _Redoutable_ and the _Amiral Duperré_. With these powerful ships may be said to have commenced the era of iron and steel line-of-battle ships in France. We will now bring them, together with still more recent French ships of the first class, into a table in which their particulars may be conveniently grouped. TABLE A.—MODERN FRENCH ARMORED SHIPS OF THE FIRST CLASS.[24] Part 1 of 2 +----------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+----------+ | |Displace-|Indicated| Speed | | | | NAME OF SHIP. | ment | Horse- | in | Length. | Breadth. | | | in tons.| power. | Knots. | | | | | | [25] | [25] | | | +----------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+----------+ | | | | | Feet. | Feet. | | Amiral Baudin | 11,200 | 8,320 | 15 | 319 | 70 | | Amiral Duperré | 10,300 | 8,120 | 14.2 | 319 | 70 | | Dévastation | 9,900 | 8,320 | 14.5 | 312 | 69.8 | | | | | | | | | Formidable | 11,260 | 8,320 | 15 | 319 | 70 | | Foudroyant }| 9,500 | 8,200 | 15 | 311 | 69.8 | | (now Courbet)}| | | | | | | Hoche | 10,480 | 5,500 | 14 | 329 | 66 | | Magenta | 10,480 | 5,500 | 14 | 329 | 66 | | Marceau | 10,480 | 5,500 | 14 | 329 | 66 | | Neptune | 10,480 | 5,500 | 14 | 329 | 66 | | Redoutable | 9,030 | 6,000 | 14.2 | 312 | 64.6 | | | | | | | | | Caïman | 7,200 | 4,800 | 14 | 271 | 59 | | Furieux | 5,700 | 3,400 | 12 | 248 | 59 | | Indomptable | 7,200 | 4,800 | 14 | 271 | 59 | | Requin | 7,200 | 6,000 | 14.5 | 271 | 59 | | Terrible | 7,200 | 4,800 | 14 | 271 | 59 | | Tonnant | 4,707 | 1,750 | 10 | 248 | 58.4 | +----------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+----------+