Furieux 1920
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Interwar).
Key facts
| Name | Furieux | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1920 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Interwar | derived from year |
| Ship type | ironclad warship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | France | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | French Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | Bay of Biscay | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | France | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 4 km from land |
| Position | 48.3196, -4.4320 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Furieux was an ironclad coastal defense ship built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and 1880s. She was ordered under the fleet plan of 1872 that was intended to strengthen the French fleet after the Franco-Prussian War. Originally intended to be similar to the Tonnerre class, Furieux was re-designed after the German Sachsen-class ironclads had begun construction, as the earlier French coastal defense ships were too weak to defeat the Sachsens. Instead of carrying her main armament of two guns in a single gun turret like Tonnerre and other French coastal defense ships, Furieux mounted a pair of guns in two barbettes that allowed her to fire one ahead or astern at any angle. Her guns were significantly larger than the earlier vessels as well, increasing from the 270 mm (10.6 in) guns of her predecessors to 340 mm (13.4 in) weapons. Her design suffered from several problems, including insufficient freeboard and poor stability, both of which reduced her ability to operate in open water. She was also badly overweight, which submerged her belt armor, greatly reducing her defensive characteristics.
Furieux served in the Northern Division (later Squadron) in the English Channel for the duration of her career, the active period of which was brief.
Location
- Recorded position: 48.3196, -4.4320 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Bay of Biscay
- Nearest coast: France
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article French ironclad Furieux (revision 1378506660), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-415 1944 · 7 km
- Kléber 31 km
- HMS Veronica 1947 · 35 km
- Amoco Cadiz 1978 · 37 km
- HMS Arethusa 40 km
- SS Ajax 49 km
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off France · Bay of Biscay · Interwar