La Gloire, first ocean-going ironclad warship in history.
Warship
Shipyard:	Toulon, France
Laid down:	April 1858
Launched:	24 November 1859
Commissioned:	August 1860
Decommissioned:	1879
Fate:	Scrapped in 1883
General Characteristics
Displacement:	5,630 tonnes
Dimensions:	256 ft x 56ft x 28ft (77.8m x 17m x 8.4m)
Armament:	36-6.4in (163mm) rifled muzzle-loaders model (1858/60)
Armament (after 1866):	8-9.4in (239mm) and BL model 1864, 6-7.6in (193mm) BL model 1866
Armour:	4 1/3 to 4 2/3 inches (110 to 119 mm) iron plates
Propulsion:	Sail and single shaft HRCR (horizontal return), 2,500hp (1.9MW) steam engine = 13kts
Boilers:	8 oval boilers
Coal capacity:	665 tons
Complement:	570

The French Navy's La Gloire ("Glory") was the first ocean-going ironclad warship in history.

She was launched in 1859 following the Crimean War, in response to new developments in naval gun technology, especially the Paixhans guns and rifled guns, which used explosive shells with destructive power against wooden boats.

A 5630-ton broadside battleship, she used massive iron plates sheathed over a wooden hull structure. She was built at Toulon, France.

La Gloire initiated the obsolescence of traditional non-armoured wooden ships-of-the-line, and all major navies had no choice but to build ironclads of their own.

She was soon outclassed however by newer models such as the British Navy's HMS Warrior. Her wooden hull rapidly deteriorated, and she was decommissioned in 1879.

She had two sister ships: Invincible and Normandie, both commissionned in 1862.

Reference

"Steam, Steel and Shellfire. The steam warship 1815-1905" Conway's History of the ship ISBN 0785814132