French ironclad Courbet


Courbet was an central battery battleship of the French Navy.

Career

The ship was laid down at Toulon on 19 July 1875, and was launched on 27 April 1882. Originally named Foudroyant, she was renamed to honour Admiral Amédée Courbet on 25 June 1885. Courbet was commissioned on 20 October 1886 and assigned to the escadre d'évolution at Toulon on 1 November 1886.
In August 1887 she represented France at the International Maritime Exhibition at Cadiz, before visiting Tangier. In 1893, she sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, and visited Tunisia and Algeria in 1895. She was decommissioned in February 1898 to refit, then in October 1898 sailed from Toulon to Cherbourg, where she joined the l'escadre du Nord. In 1899, she visited Lisbon, Cadiz, Vigo and Ferrol, and in 1901, was at Vigo, Lagos, Toulon and Ajaccio.
After a final voyage to Algeria in 1902, she sailed from Toulon to Brest, where she was put into reserve on 4 January 1903. Disarmed in February 1908, she was struck on 5 February 1909, and sold for scrap on 25 August 1910.