Jemmapes-class ironclad
Coastal-defense ship class of the French Navy
The Jemmapes class was a group of two coastal-defense ships built for the French Navy in the early 1890s. The class comprised Jemmapes and Valmy and were an improved version of the preceding Furieux, built for a higher speed with more modern Belleville boilers. They were armed with two turret-mounted 340 mm (13.4 in) guns and were protected by armor up to 460 mm (18 in) thick. Launched in 1892, the ships served with the Northern Squadron of the French Navy. They operated along with the similar Amiral Tréhouart and Bouvines as the Coastal Defence Division, being considered together "the most homogenous and dangerous squadron that one could meet at sea" by Vice Admiral Armand Bernard. They were struck in 1910 and, although Jemmapes had a brief respite as a hulk, they were both subsequently sold to be broken up.