USS Duc de Lauzun (1782)

Career
Name:	USS Duc de Lauzun
Namesake:	Armand Louis de Gontaut
Acquired:	October 1782
Fate:	Lent to France, April 1783, later sold
General characteristics
Type:	Frigate

Service record
Commanders:	Capt. Samuel Nicholson

USS Duc de Lauzun was a frigate in the Continental Navy.

Formerly a British customs ship, Duc De Lauzun was purchased in October 1782 at Dover, England, and outfitted in Nantes, France. The ship was named after Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duc de Lauzun by the British and her name was retained in the Continental Navy..

Under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Nicholson, in January 1783 she was dispatched from Philadelphia, Pa., to bring home 72,000 Spanish milled dollars from Havana for the American Government. Clearing Havana 6 March escorted by the Continental ship Alliance under the command of Captain John Barry, she sailed for home with her precious cargo. On their passage north the two ships encountered two men-of-war whom they evaded after a sharp engagement, perhaps because of their superior seamanship. Duc de Lauzun separated from Alliance on 18 March off Cape Hatteras and arrived in the Delaware 3 days later.

In April 1783 she was lent to France to carry home French troops after which she was sold. Before, she had one more mission : to carry to Benjamin Franklin in France the news of Cornwallis's surrender.

Sources

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.