Bullethead
18 Jul 07, 11:59
The other day I got word of the official historical site for the French navy. It's here: http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/planbato/central.htm.
The really cool thing is that they've got the official, original plans for a bunch of old French ships available for free download here (http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/planbato/listebato/listebato.php). Alas, no Dupuy de Lome, but a lot of my other favorites are on there :). The available plans cover ships from the 1880s to the 1960s. Many ships on the list were sisters so the number of classes available is less than it appears, but it's still an impressive collection.
If you're interested in getting some of these plans, it helps if you read French :). Fortunately, many nautical terms are the same in many languages, so it's not THAT hard if you're not up on French. Don't translate the page because that will translate ship names, too, and those usually don't look anything the same in English, so you can't find the ship you want.
The plans, when printed out, are usually about 1.5m long for side views of ships. In general, all the plans are "as built", not "as fitted" or "as modified". Most ships have a bunch of different plan sheets available. These range from hull lines and external general arrangements, to deck plans from the highest mast platforms to the lowest bilges. There are also usually a number of detail drawings of such things as hatches, davits, A-brackets, ammo hoists, how internal communication systems were connected, etc. Not all of these are available for each ship, however, but members of the same class often have different sheets available, so you can assemble a full package by taking from several ships.
The drawing files have cryptic names, however, which tell you nothing of their content. So if you're only interested in, say, external views, you need to read the "fiche bateau". It works like this: When you click on a ship's name on the big list above, you go to a page for that ship with further links to photos, the plans, and a PDF file called "fiche bateau". This PDF file lists all the available plan sheets and what they contain. Then you can download the specific sheets that interest you.
The "fiche bateau" is, of course, in French. My French isn't very good (most of what little I know is the Cajun dialect, which is rather different from real French). However, I can stumble through this, especially after a little trial and error. So don't be afraid of it :).
The really cool thing is that they've got the official, original plans for a bunch of old French ships available for free download here (http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/02fonds-collections/banquedocuments/planbato/planbato/listebato/listebato.php). Alas, no Dupuy de Lome, but a lot of my other favorites are on there :). The available plans cover ships from the 1880s to the 1960s. Many ships on the list were sisters so the number of classes available is less than it appears, but it's still an impressive collection.
If you're interested in getting some of these plans, it helps if you read French :). Fortunately, many nautical terms are the same in many languages, so it's not THAT hard if you're not up on French. Don't translate the page because that will translate ship names, too, and those usually don't look anything the same in English, so you can't find the ship you want.
The plans, when printed out, are usually about 1.5m long for side views of ships. In general, all the plans are "as built", not "as fitted" or "as modified". Most ships have a bunch of different plan sheets available. These range from hull lines and external general arrangements, to deck plans from the highest mast platforms to the lowest bilges. There are also usually a number of detail drawings of such things as hatches, davits, A-brackets, ammo hoists, how internal communication systems were connected, etc. Not all of these are available for each ship, however, but members of the same class often have different sheets available, so you can assemble a full package by taking from several ships.
The drawing files have cryptic names, however, which tell you nothing of their content. So if you're only interested in, say, external views, you need to read the "fiche bateau". It works like this: When you click on a ship's name on the big list above, you go to a page for that ship with further links to photos, the plans, and a PDF file called "fiche bateau". This PDF file lists all the available plan sheets and what they contain. Then you can download the specific sheets that interest you.
The "fiche bateau" is, of course, in French. My French isn't very good (most of what little I know is the Cajun dialect, which is rather different from real French). However, I can stumble through this, especially after a little trial and error. So don't be afraid of it :).