1/20th scale model of Suffren, lead ship of Masséna's class, on display at the Musée national de la Marine
History
France
Name	Masséna
Namesake	André Masséna
Builder	Arsenal de Toulon
Laid down	September 1835 as Spectre
Launched	15 March 1860
Completed	November 1861
Commissioned	21 April 1860
Decommissioned	1 June 1867
Renamed	Masséna, 24 April 1850 Mars, 1892
Reclassified	As a troopship, July 1866 As a barracks ship, 9 May 1879
Stricken	9 May 1879
Fate	Sank 18 June 1904; scrapped, 1905–1906
General characteristics (as of 1863)
Class and type	Suffren-class ship of the line
Displacement	5,137 t (5,056 long tons)
Length	72.99 m (239 ft 6 in) (waterline)
Beam	16.28 m (53 ft 5 in)
Draught	8.15 m (26 ft 9 in) (full load)
Depth of hold	8.04 m (26 ft 5 in)
Installed power	2,189 ihp (1,632 kW) (trials)
Propulsion	1 screw; 2 steam engines
Sail plan	Ship rigged
Speed	11.46 knots (21.22 km/h; 13.19 mph) (trials)
Complement	913
Armament	Lower gundeck: 18 × 30 pdr cannon; 16 × 163 mm (6.4 in) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) guns Upper gundeck: 34 × 30 pdr cannon Quarterdeck and forecastle: 20 × 163 mm (6.4 in) Paixhans guns; 2 × 163 mm RML guns

Masséna was ordered as a third-rank, 90-gun sailing Suffren-class ship of the line for the French Navy, but was converted to a steam-powered ship in the 1850s while under construction. Completed in 1861 the ship participated in the Second French intervention in Mexico the following year. Hulked in 1879 and used as a barracks ship, the vessel sank at her moorings in 1904 and was subsequently scrapped in place.

The Suffren-class ships were enlarged versions of the 80-gun Bucentaure-class ships of the line that had been designed by naval architect Jacques-Noël Sané. The conversion to steam power involved cutting Masséna's frame in half amidships and building a new section to house the propulsion machinery and coal bunkers. The ship had a length at the waterline of 72.99 meters (239 ft 6 in), a beam of 16.28 meters (53 ft 5 in) and a depth of hold of 8.04 meters (26 ft 5 in). The ship displaced 5,137 metric tons (5,056 long tons) and had a draught of 8.15 meters (26 ft 9 in) at deep load. Her crew numbered 913 officers and ratings. Details are lacking on her propulsion machinery, the only information available is that her two steam engines were rated at 800 nominal horsepower and produced 2,189 indicated horsepower (1,632 kW) which gave her a speed of 11.46 knots (21.22 km/h; 13.19 mph) during her sea trials.^[1]

The ship's armament consisted of eighteen 30-pounder (164.7 mm (6.5 in)) smoothbore cannon and sixteen 163 mm (6.4 in) rifled muzzle-loading (MLR) guns on the lower gundeck and thirty-four 30-pounder cannon on the upper gundeck. On the quarterdeck and forecastle were twenty 163 mm Paixhans guns and a pair of 163 mm MLR guns.^[2]

Laid down as Spectre in September 1835 at the Arsenal de Rochefort, the ship was renamed Masséna on 2 April 1850. She was ordered to be converted to steam power on 19 October 1854. The conversion began on 12 March 1856 and the ship was launched on 15 March 1860. Masséna was commissioned on 21 April 1860 although her sea trials did not begin until November 1861.^[3] The ship ferried troops to Mexico in 1861–1862. She was used as a transport from 1867, and stricken on 9 May 1879. From 1880, she was used as barracks in Toulon, and she was eventually broken up in 1906.^[4]

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. Tome I: 1671–1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Winfield, Rif & Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.