The Magenta was an ironclad battleship of the French Navy. The ship underwent significant changes during her construction phase including three different sets of main guns and increases in length and width. Like her sister ships she suffered from an over-large unarmoured superstructure that in Magenta's case stretched for 40 feet about the top of her armoured belt. In defence of the superstructure one of the ship's captains reported that it did make the ship notably more habitable than it otherwise would have been