Téméraire class ship of the line
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The Téméraire class ships of the line was a class of 107 74-gun ships of the line built between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy. The type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built.
The class was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané as part of the fleet expansion programme instituted by Jean-Charles de Borda.
The design was appreciated in Britain, which eagerly commissioned captured ships and even copied the design with the Pompée class.
Variants from basic design
While all the French 74-gun ships from the mid-1780s until the close of the Napoleonic Wars were to the Téméraire design, there were three variants of the basic design which Sané developed with the same hull form of the Téméraire. In 1793 two ships were laid down at Brest to an enlarged design, in 1801 two ships were commenced at Lorient with a shorter length than the standard design (with a third ship commenced at Brest), and in 1803 two ships were commenced at Toulon to a smaller version (many more ships to this 'small type' were then built in the shipyards controlled by France in Italy and the Netherlands) - these are detailed separately below.
Ships in class
Téméraire (18 ships)
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: May 1782
- Launched: 17 December 1782
- Completed: July 1783
- Fate: Condemned in November 1801, broken up 1803.
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: July 1782
- Launched: 28 October 1784
- Completed: 1785
- Fate: Condemned in November 1802
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: July 1782
- Launched: 11 November 1784
- Completed: 1785
- Fate: Wrecked on 30 January 1795 off Brest.
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: July 1782
- Launched: 21 June 1785
- Completed: October 1785
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy at Toulon in August 1793 but retaken by the French in December 1793; captured again by the Royal Navy in February 1800.
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: September 1784
- Launched: 15 September 1785
- Completed: 1786 or 1787
- Fate: renamed Bonnet Rouge in January 1794 and then Timoléon in February 1794. Destroyed in action at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: December 1784
- Launched: 16 September 1785
- Completed: 1786
- Fate: renamed Phocion in October 1792. Surrendered to Spain by her officers in January 1793 at Trinidad.
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: August 1782, but work stopped in February 1783 and she was demolished.
- Re-laid down: November 1784
- Launched: 19 September 1785
- Completed: late 1785
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, and subsequently wrecked.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: September 1784
- Launched: 3 October 1785
- Completed: April 1786
- Fate: Condemned in May 1820 and became Pontoon No.4 in April 1821. Broken up at Rochefort in late 1832.
- Commerce de Marseille (renamed Lys in July 1786 and then Tricolore in October 1792)
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: September 1784
- Launched: 7 October 1785
- Completed: September 1787
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy at Toulon on August 1793, then destroyed during the Siege of Toulon in December 1793.
- Borée (renamed Ça Ira in April 1794 and then Agricola in June 1794)
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: January 1783, but work stopped in February 1783 and she was demolished.
- Re-laid down: November 1784
- Launched: 17 November 1785
- Completed: August 1787
- Fate: Broken up in 1803 at Rochefort.
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: October 1784
- Launched: 18 April 1787
- Completed: 1788
- Fate: renamed Mucius Scaevola in November 1793, then Mucius in same month; condemned 1802 and broken up 1803-1804.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: October 1785
- Launched: 22 June 1787
- Completed: July 1787
- Fate: wrecked February 1793 and then burnt
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: May 1786
- Launched: 11 October 1787
- Completed: 1788
- Fate: Broken up 1803
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: July 1786
- Launched: 25 October 1787
- Completed: 1788
- Fate: captured by the British June 1794
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: April 1787
- Launched: 21 May 1788
- Completed: 1788
- Fate: renamed Gasparin in February 1794, reverted to Apollon in May 1794; renamed Marceau in December 1797. Broken up 1798.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: end 1786
- Launched: 21 May 1788
- Completed: 1789
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy June 1794
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: end 1786
- Launched: 30 October 1788
- Completed July 1790
- Fate: Destroyed during the Siege of Toulon in 1793
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: September 1787
- Launched: 8 June 1789
- Completed: June 1790
- Fate: Captured by Britain during the Battle of the Nile in August 1798.
Duquesne (46 ships)
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: August 1787
- Launched: 2 September 1788
- Completed: 1789
- Fate:
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: June 1787
- Launched: 16 December 1788
- Completed: July 1790
- Fate:
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: June 1787
- Launched: 15 November 1789
- Completed: August 1790
- Fate: Broken up in Baltimore in 1816
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered: 19 August 1787
- Begun: June 1788
- Launched: 4 November 1789
- Completed: October 1790
- Fate: renamed Montagnard in March 1794, Démocrate on 18 May 1795 then swiftly Jupiter again on 30 May 1795, and Batave in December 1797. Broken up in Brest in 1807
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: May 1788
- Launched: 16 December 1789
- Completed: August 1790
- Fate:
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Ordered:
- Launched: 7 November 1790
- Fate: Wrecked at the Battle of the Basque Roads on 26 February 1809, hull burnt by the British in April.
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
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- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
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- Fate: (Renamed Révolution, then Finisterre)
- Builder: Rochefort shipyard
- Ordered:
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- Fate: (Renamed Mont Blanc, 31 Mai, Républicain, HMS Mont Blanc)
- Builder: Brest shipyard
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- Fate: (Renamed Redoutable) Participated in the Battle of Trafalgar, taken by the British, foundered two days later.
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
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- Builder: Lorient shipyard
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- Fate: (Renamed Gaulois)
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- Builder: Toulon shipyard
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- Fate: (Renamed Dessaix)
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- Fate: (renamed Pégase, Hoche and HMS Donegal)
File:Vaisseau-Droits-de-lHomme.jpg
Battle between the French warship Droits de l'Homme and the frigates HMS Amazon and Indefatigable, 13 & 14 January 1797. (Indefatigable on the left, Droits de l'Homme at the centre, Amazon on the right.)
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
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- Launched: May 29, 1794
- Fate: Beached January 14, 1797
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- Lion (Renamed Marat, Formidable)
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- Fate: (renamed Voltaire, Constitution, Jupiter and HMS Maida)
File:Fight of the Poursuivante mp3h9426.jpg
Fight of the Poursuivante against the British ship Hercules, 28 June 1803.
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- Builder: Lorient
- Ordered: 31 May 1798
- Begun: August 1798
- Launched: 24 January 1803
- Completed: March 1803
- Fate: Renamed Impétueux in February 1803. Beached and set ablaze by the British in Chesapeake on 14 September 1806.
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- Duguay-Trouin (ii)
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- Scipion (ii)
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File:Triomphant mp3h9394.jpg
Stern of a model of the Triomphant
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Danube (26 ships)
- Builder: Lorient
- Ordered:
- Begun: August 1805
- Launched: 25 May 1808
- Completed: October 1808
- Fate: renamed Lis in April 1814 (resumed Polonais from March until July 1815)
- Builder: Brest
- Ordered:
- Begun: 16 April 1794
- Launched: 9 June 1808
- Completed: September 1808
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- Builder: Toulon
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- Begun: June 1807
- Launched: 27 December 1808
- Completed: August 1809
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- Builder: Antwerp
- Ordered:
- Begun: December 1808
- Launched: 5 July 1814
- Completed: September 1814
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- Builder: Genoa
- Ordered:
- Begun: February 1812
- Launched: 18 April 1815 for the British Navy as HMS Genoa
- Completed: 1815
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- Builder: Toulon
- Ordered:
- Begun: September 1812
- Launched: 26 May 1815
- Completed: August 1815
- Fate: renamed Provence in July 1815, then Alger in July 1830.
- Builder: Rochefort
- Ordered:
- Begun: January 1812
- Launched: 18 June 1818
- Completed: July 1818
- Fate: renamed Minerve in January 1832; cut down to a frigate of 58 guns in 1834.
- Builder: Lorient-Caudan
- Ordered:
- Begun: July 1811
- Launched: 25 August 1820
- Completed December 1820
- Fate:
- Builder: Rochefort
- Ordered:
- Begun: April 1813
- Launched: 22 September 1823
- Completed: December 1824
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- Builder: Brest
- Ordered:
- Begun: October 1813
- Launched: 26 August 1824
- Completed: 1825
- Fate: renamed Duperré in December 1849.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Ordered:
- Begun: July 1813
- Launched: 23 September 1831
- Completed: 1832
- Fate:
Three further ships to this design were begun at Castellammare di Stabia for the "puppet" Neapolitan Navy of Joachim Murat:
- Begun: end 1808
- Launched: 21 August 1810
- Completed: January 1812
- Begun: September 1810
- Launched: 1 August 1812
- Completed: May 1813
- The third ship, laid down in September 1812, was never named, let alone launched, as its construction was abandoned following the defection of the Kingdom of Naples from the Napoléonic cause in November 1813.
Large Variant (Cassard group - 2 ships launched)
Two ships were laid down in 1793-94 at Brest to a variant of Sané's design with the aim of carrying 24-pounder guns on the upper deck instead of the 18-pounders carried by the Téméraire. These shipswere 2 feet longer than the standard 74s, and half a foot wider. The first was begun as the Lion, but was renamed Glorieux in 1795 and Cassard in 1798. The second was begun as the Magnanime, but was renamed Quatorze Juillet in 1798 and Vétéran in 1802. Unlike the main sequence, construction proceeded slowly. By 1816 the 24-pounders had been replaced by 18-pounders, and no further ships to this variant design were produced, so indicating that it was not judged successful.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Begun: November 1794
- Launched: 18 July 1803
- Completed: December 1803
- Fate: Condemned 1833
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Begun: August 1793
- Launched: 24 September 1803
- Completed: December 1803
- Fate: Condemned 1818
Short Variant (Suffren group - 2 ships launched)
Two ships were begun in 1801 to a variation of the standard Téméraire design by Sane to meet the demands of Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. The length of these ships were reduced by 65 cm from the standard design. A third ship to this variant design begun at Brest was cancelled in 1804. After Forfait left the Ministry of the Marine in October 1801, no further vessels were ordered to this variant design.
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Begun: August 1801
- Launched: 17 September 1803
- Completed: October 1803
- Fate: Condemned 1815
- Builder: Lorient shipyard
- Begun: August 1801
- Launched: 8 July 1804
- Completed: September 1804
- Fate: Captured 1805 by the British at Trafalgar, but retaken. Captured 1808 by the Spanish at Cadiz.
- Builder: Brest shipyard
- Begun: May 1801
- Launched: never launched
- Completed: -
- Fate: Cancelled February 1804
Small Variant (Pluton group - 24 ships launched)
Starting with the prototypes Pluton and Borée in 1803, a smaller version of the Téméraire class, officially named petit modèle, was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané to be produced in shipyards having a lesser depth of water than the principal French shipyards, primarily those in neighbouring states under French control and in foreign ports which had been absorbed into the French Empire such as Antwerp. The revised design measured 177 feet 7 inches on the waterline, 180 feet 1 inch on the deck, and 46 feet 11 inches moulded breadth. The depth if hull was 9 inches less than that in the "regular" Téméraire design.
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
- Ordered: June 1803
- Laid down: August 1803
- Launched: 17 January 1805
- Completed: March 1805.
- Fate: Captured by the Spanish at Cadiz in June 1808.
- Builder: Toulon shipyard
- Ordered: June 1803
- Laid down: August 1803
- Launched: 27 June 1805
- Completed: August 1805
- Fate: Condemned at Toulon in 1827.
- Two more 74s to the "petit modèle" design were ordered in June 1803, one at Marseille and the other at Bordeaux, but these were not built.
- Builder: Genoa shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: July 1803
- Launched: 17 August 1805
- Completed: November 1805
- Fate: Condemned at Rochefort in August 1821, ad broken up there by October 1821.
- Builder: Flushing shipyard
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- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: November 1803
- Launched: 9 April 1807
- Completed: March 1808
- Fate: Condemned at Brest in February 1819, and broken up there in December 1819.
- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: April 1804
- Launched: 8 April 1807
- Completed: March 1808
- Fate: Ceded to the new Dutch Navy 1 August 1814, renamed Nassau.
- Anversois (renamed Éole in August 1814, then Anversois in March 1815 and back to Éole in July 1815)
- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: June 1804
- Launched: 7 June 1807
- Completed: March 1808
- Fate: Condemned at Brest in February 1819 and broken up there in December 1819.
- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Laid down: July 1804
- Launched: 20 June 1807
- Completed: March 1808
- Fate: Condemned at Lorient in June 1818, and broken up there in January 1820.
- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
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- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: April 1807
- Launched: 2 October 1808
- Completed: April 1809
- Fate:
- Builder: Genoa shipyard
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- Builder: Antwerp shipyard
- Ordered:
- Begun: August 1806
- Launched: 21 August 1808
- Completed: April 1809
- Fate:
- Builder: Venice shipyard
- Ordered:
- Launched: 6 September 1810
- Fate: captured in the Action of 22 February 1812.
- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Launched: not launched
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Builder: Amsterdam shipyard
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Builder: Amsterdam shipyard
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- Launched: July 1817
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Builder: Amsterdam shipyard
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- Builder: Rotterdam shipyard
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Launched: not launched
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Launched: not launched
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Launched: not launched
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- Builder: Venice shipyard
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- Launched: not launched
- Fate:
- Builder: Trieste shipyard
- Ordered: December 1811
- Launched: not launched
- Fate: Cancelled 1812.
See also
- French ship Téméraire for a list of ships so named in the French Navy
External links
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