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The Seine class was a class of four 42-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. A fifth vessel, Furieuse, was originally ordered at Cherbourg in February 1794 to Forfait's Romaine-class design, but was instead completed to the design of the Seine class.
 Hull of HMS Revolutionnaire
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Seine |
| Builders | Le Havre (4); Cherbourg (1) |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Minerve class |
| Succeeded by | Virginie class |
| Subclasses | Valeureuse class |
| Planned | 6 |
| Completed | 7 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Frigate |
| Displacement | 700 tonnes |
| Length | 146 ft 4 in (44.60 m) |
| Beam | 37 ft 2 in (11.33 m) |
| Depth of hold | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Armament | 42 guns: |
| Armour | Timber |
The ship builder Charles-Henri Le Tellier produced a variant of the Forfait design after the latter went to Venice in 1797. Two further vessels, originally ordered as the final pair to the Seine design and begun to that design in July 1797, were completed to the variant design as the Valeureuse class, which were about 8 inches (20 cm) longer than earlier Seine-class vessels.[1]
The vessels were originally designed to carry a main armament of 24-pounder guns, but in the event all were completed at Le Havre with 18-pounders.
Seine class
edit- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: May 1793
- Launched: 19 December 1793
- Completed: March 1794
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 30 June 1798, becoming HMS Seine.
- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: October 1793
- Launched: 28 May 1794
- Completed: July 1794
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 21 October 1794, becoming HMS Revolutionnaire.
- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: May 1794
- Launched: late November 1794
- Completed: December 1794
- Fate: Renamed La Pensée May 1795. Converted to a breakwater in November 1804, deleted 1832.
- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: December 1794
- Launched: 2 September 1796
- Completed: October 1797
- Fate: Burnt to avoid capture by the Royal Navy in April 1809.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Begun: March 1795
- Launched: 22 September 1796
- Completed: May 1798
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 6 July 1809, becoming HMS Furieuse.
Valeureuse class
edit- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: July 1797
- Launched: 29 July 1798
- Completed: March 1800
- Fate: Sold in September 1806 at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania for breaking up following condemnation as irreparable at Philadelphia.
- Builder: Le Havre
- Begun: July 1797
- Launched: 6 April 1799
- Completed: March 1800
- Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 24 September 1806, becoming HMS Immortalité; never commissioned and sold in January 1811 at Plymouth for breaking up.
Citations
editReferences
edit- Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 A 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-24-1.
- Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-903179-30-1.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
- Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.