"France II" was an extremely large tall ship, square rigged as a five-masted steel-hulled barque. She was long, her displacement was , and was measured at of cargo. Her masts, yards and spanker boom were made of steel tubing; lower mast and topmast were made in one piece. She had a huge sail area of , flown on a so-called "jubilee" or "bald-headed" rig, with no royal sails above double topsails and double topgallants. Her long yards and comparatively short masts gave her a rather wide and depressed appearance relative to other tall ships of her class.