French ship Sceptre (1780)

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Career (France) French Navy Ensign French Navy Ensign French Navy Ensign
Name: Sceptre
Namesake: Sceptre; National Convention; Battle of Marengo
Builder: Brest
Laid down: 25 may 1780
Launched: 21 September 1780
Commissioned: October 1780
Decommissioned: 1802
General characteristics
Displacement: 1580 tonnes
Length: 54.1 metres
Beam: 14 metres
Draught: 7.3 metres
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 750 men
Armament: 74 guns
Armour: Timber

The Sceptre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

In 1781 and 1782, she took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, under Admiral de Grasse. She fought at the Battle of the Chesapeake and at the Battle of the Saintes. In August, Sceptre, Astrée, and Engageante, under Lapérouse, raided several English fur trading posts during the Hudson Bay Expedition, including Fort Prince of Wales. In 1783, she was decommissioned in Brest.

On 29 September 1792, she was renamed Convention. She took part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2, engaging HMS Caesar and HMS Bellerophon.

She later took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver of Winter 1794-1795, in the Expédition d'Irlande, and in the Cruise of Bruix.

In August 1800, she was renamed Marengo, and was condemned in 1802. She was used as a prison hulk in Brest before being broken up in 1811.

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