French ship Illustre (1781)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Illustre.

Career (France)
Name:	Illustre
Namesake:	Illustrious
Builder:	Rochefort
Laid down:	August 1779
Launched:	23 February 1781
In service:	March 1781
Out of service:	16 December 1796
General characteristics
Class and type:	Magnanime class ship of the line
Displacement:	1500 tonnes
Length:	55.6 metres
Beam:	14.3 metres
Draught:	6.8 metres
Propulsion:	Sail
Armament:	74 guns: 28 36-pounders 30 18-pounders 16 8-pounders
Armour:	Timber

The Illustre was a 74-gun Magnanime class ship of the line of the French Navy.

She took part in the campaigns of Suffren before staying in Brest between 1788 and 1791. She was razeed into a 44-gun frigate in 1793.

In February 1794, she was renamed Mucius Scévola, and Scévola the next month.

She took part in the Expédition d'Irlande. On 30 December 1796, she was wrecked in a storm and was so badly damaged that she was scuttled. The crew was evacuated by Révolution.

Sources and 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.