French frigate Bellone (1807)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Bellone and HMS Junon.

File:Grand Port mg6974.jpg Bellone at the Battle of Grand Port.
Career (France)
Name:	Bellone
Namesake:	Bellona
Ordered:	14 January 1803
Builder:	Saint Malo (Ethéart company), plans by Sané
Laid down:	May 1809
Launched:	1807
Commissioned:	February 1779
Out of service:	4 December 1810
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Junon
Acquired:	4 December 1810
Out of service:	1817
General characteristics
Armour:	Timber

The Bellone was an 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.

She departed Saint-Malo on 18 January 1809, bound for the Indian Ocean, under Guy-Victor Duperré.

She sailed from La Réunion for a combat patrol in August 1809. On 2 November 1809, she captured HMS Victor. On 22, she captured the 48-gun Portuguese Minerva after a 2-hour battle. She sailed home with her prize, arriving on 2 January 1810.

In April 1810, the squadron comprising Bellone, Minerve and Victor departed for another patrol, during which they fought the Action of 3 July 1810 and the Battle of Grand Port.

Bellone was surrendered to the British when Île de France fell, on 4 December 1810. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Junon.

In June 1812, HMS Junon escorted a convoy from Portsmouth to India.

In February 1813, her boats captured the 16-gun schooner Lottery, recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Canso. In June, her boats raided the James river, and she sustained attack by US gunboats.

On 3 April 1814, as she sailed with HMS Tenedos, she encountered USS Constitution, who fled at all sail, dropping drinking water and food overboard, and eventually making it to Marblehead harbour.

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.