French ship Eylau (1856)

The Eylau was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1856. She was a three-decked, wooden-hulled vessel, built according to designs approved during a period of experimentation with naval architecture and armament.

The Eylau represented the apex of traditional sailing warship design in France, built shortly before the introduction of ironclad warships rendered such vessels largely obsolete. While she never saw extensive combat, she served as a symbol of French naval power during a time of significant transition. Her armament consisted of a mixture of smoothbore cannons and potentially some rifled guns, reflecting the shift in naval artillery that was occurring.

She was named in honour of the Battle of Eylau (1807), a bloody and strategically inconclusive engagement between Napoleon's Grande Armée and Russian forces under General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen. This naming convention was typical of French warships, referencing significant victories or figures in French military history.

The Eylau was eventually decommissioned and broken up as ironclad warships became the dominant force in naval warfare. Her career, though relatively short, highlights the rapid technological changes that transformed naval power in the mid-19th century.