The French corvette Dupleix was a wooden-hulled screw vessel belonging to the Cosmao class, constructed for the French Navy in the mid-19th century. Laid down at Cherbourg Dockyard on October 9, 1856, and launched on March 28, 1861, she was designed by Louis-François Octave Vésignié, with her machinery engineered by Victorin Sabattier. The ship measured approximately 66.34 meters (217 ft 8 in) in length overall, with a waterline length of 63.80 meters (209 ft 4 in). Her beam was 11.40 meters (37 ft 5 in), and she had a maximum draught of 5.61 meters (18 ft 5 in). Displacing around 1,773 tonnes (1,745 long tons), Dupleix was crewed by 191 sailors. Propelled by a single screw driven by a two-cylinder trunk steam engine rated at 400 nominal horsepower, Dupleix achieved a maximum speed of about 11.66 knots (21.59 km/h; 13.42 mph). The vessel was powered by oval boilers and carried 340 tonnes of coal, providing her with a range suitable for extended operations. In addition to her steam power, she was equipped with sails, allowing versatility in propulsion. Her armament initially consisted of ten 16 cm (6.3 in) M1860 rifles, later replaced by twelve 14 cm (5.5 in) M1870 rifles. Dupleix was primarily assigned to France’s Far East colonies, where she participated in notable events such as the bombardment of Shimonoseki in 1864, during which she fired 411 shots and sustained damage from cannonballs. She was involved in diplomatic incidents, notably the Sakai incident in 1868, where her captain’s protests led to the arrest and subsequent death sentences of samurai involved in a skirmish. She also distinguished herself by being the first Western ship to salute the Japanese emperor at Fort Tempozan in April 1868. Throughout her service, Dupleix undertook various missions including rescue operations, naval blockades during the Franco-Prussian War, and fishery patrols off Iceland. After returning to France in 1871, she served in a monitoring capacity until being decommissioned in 1887. The vessel was ultimately broken up in 1890, marking the end of her significant 26-year naval career.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.