Redoutable combined a disputed construction start with major changes after building was under way. Her maximum belt armour increased from 300 mm to 350 mm in July 1875, when the hull was already well advanced. A July 1872 machinery proposal used separate engines for economical low-speed steaming and greater power at higher speeds. Further changes led to a June 1874 contract for three independent groups of two cylinders driving a single propeller shaft. The sequence shows how machinery arrangements and protection requirements continued to change around an unsettled construction programme.
Notable Point · 38:05-39:44
Redoutable's changing machinery and armour specifications
Armour and propulsion requirements changed during Redoutable's construction, complicating both the work and its surviving chronology.