French Gunboats for Mars

Thinking of adding some maritime firepower to my French force with a gunboat, which would add some serious ability to dominate Martian trade on the canals.

Wanting to use historical designs where possible, I came across the Revolver class gunboat:

Revolver gunboat in Tonkin

Hull schematic (no cockpit) - the real version show greater cutdown at the bow

Typical of the period, and also the experimental nature of smaller craft, armament varied but was broadly one large cannon up front and a few smaller weapons for close in defence. 

Earlier designs had larger calibre forward guns, but these were later reduced to a 140mm gun, with two 37mm Hothkiss revolver guns fore and aft on the superstructure.

Conveniently, this model is made  by Gringo 40s and looks like a great model:

I also quite like this turreted ironclad gunboat style: The Acheron Class

Four of the class were built between 1882 and 1890, and they continued to serve until 1912

Acheron was armed with a single 274 mm gun (!) in a conical turret as the primary armament, plus two 100 mm, two 47 mm and twenty 37 mm guns. Probably more a harbour defence cruiser than a gunboat, but definitions of the era were rather flexible.

Very cool, but a bit too high end for Mars though? Would make a nice option for a scratch build. 

Slightly different track but equally cool is the Cerbère class Ironclad Rams - 4 of which were built in the 1870s

In the limited confines of Martian canal networks with limited manoeuvre room, her ability to take out enemy ships by ramming (and thus preserving valuable main battery ammunition) would be valuable.

French ironclad ram ships Cerbère and Bélier, 1866-90

Deliberations continue...