Pégase-class ship of the line
Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782. Painting by Dominic Serres | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name: | Pégase |
Operators: | |
Completed: | 6 [1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Pégase class |
Tons burthen: | 1500 tonnes[2] |
Length: | 55.2 metres[2] |
Beam: | 14.3 metres[2] |
Draught: | 6.8 metres[2] |
Propulsion: | Sails |
Armament: |
|
The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.[3]
The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.
Ships
- Builder: Brest Dockyard
- Ordered: June 1781
- Begun: June 1781
- Launched: 5 October 1781
- Completed: February 1782
- Fate: Captured by HMS Foudroyant in the Bay of Biscay on 21 April 1782 (with 80 men of her crew killed); renamed HMS Pegase; hulked 1794 at Plymouth, until broken up in 1815.
- Builder: Lorient Dockyard
- Ordered: 13 July 1781
- Begun: August 1781
- Launched: 13 March 1782
- Completed: June 1782
- Fate: Surrendered to the British by her Royalist crew during the Siege of Toulon on 29 September 1793; removed to England at the evacuation of the city; became a hulk in Portsmouth 1796; broken up in 1816.
- Builder: Toulon Dockyard
- Ordered: 13 July 1781
- Begun: July 1781
- Launched: 16 February 1782
- Completed: August 1782
- Fate: Renamed Liberté on 29 September 1792. Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon on 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1808.
- Builder: Toulon Dockyard
- Ordered: 13 July 1781
- Begun: July 1781
- Launched: 6 March 1782
- Completed: August 1782
- Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.
- Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
- Ordered: 13 July 1781
- Begun: July 1781
- Launched: 25 May 1782
- Completed: January 1783
- Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own heated shots, and exploded.
- Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
- Ordered: 13 July 1781
- Begun: August 1781
- Launched: 24 July 1782
- Completed: October 1783
- Fate: Captured by the British at the Battle of Cape Noli 14 March 1795; retaken in the Action of 7 October 1795 by de Richery's squadron off Cape St Vincent; sold at Cadiz to Spain in June 1799 in exchange for the Spanish San Sebastián.
Notes and References
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 280. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
- Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
French Navy ship of the line classes timeline, 1750s–1900s — next » | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type | 1750s–1760s | 1770s–1780s | 1790s–1800s | 1810s–1820s | 1830s–1840s | 1850s–1860s | 1870s–1880s | 1890s–1900s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
50 | 55 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 00 | 05 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 45 | 50 | 55 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 | 85 | 90 | 95 | 00 | 05 | |||
130 gun three-decker | Bretagne | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
110-120 gun three-decker | Sans-Pareil class | Océan class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bretagne | Valmy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Terrible class | Commerce de Paris class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
90-100 gun two-decker | Napoléon class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Suffren class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hercule class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
80-gun two-decker | Saint-Esprit class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deux Frères | Bucentaure class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tonnant class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
74-gun two-decker | Hector class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Magnifique class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Souverain class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Diadème class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Citoyen class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Marseillois | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
César class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Magnanime class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Annibal class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scipion class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pégase class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Téméraire class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Centaure class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||