French gunboat Flèche (1855)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Flèche.

Portrait of Flèche
History
France
Name	Flèche
Namesake	Arrow
Builder	Toulon [1]
Laid down	December 1854 [1]
Launched	10 June 1855 [1]
Commissioned	June 1855 [1]
Stricken	11 February 1865
Fate	Broken up in 1882[1]
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Étincelle-class gunboat
Tons burthen	350 tonnes
Length	43.9 m (144 ft 0 in)
Beam	7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Draught	3.2 m (10 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	Sail Creusot steam engine
Complement	78
Armament	4 × 50-pounder guns 20 × rifled guns
Armour	Timber

Flèche was an Étincelle-class gunboat of the French Navy. She served in the Crimean War before being used for hydrographic surveys and eventually as a coal hulk at Brest.

Career

Flèche, icebreaking in the Dnieper Liman for the passage of Floating batteries

Flèche took part in the Battle of Kinburn in 1855. She served in the Adriatic Sea from 1859, and in Mexico from 1863.^[1]

She conducted hydrographic surveys off Brest from 1864. In 1877, she was hulked and used as a coal depot in Brest until 1862, when she was broken up.^[1]

Citations

1. Roche, vol.1, p.203

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 203. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.