French ship Fort (1693)

Fort was a second rank two-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was armed with 68 guns, comprising twenty-six 24-pounder guns on the lower deck and twenty-eight 12-pounder guns on the upper deck, with eight 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck (two more were added from 1699) and six 6-pounder guns on the forecastle.

History
France
Name:	Fort
Ordered:	June 1692
Builder:	Rochefort
Laid down:	July 1692
Launched:	February 1693
Commissioned:	May 1693
Fate:	Burnt at Battle of Vigo in October 1702 to avoid capture
General characteristics
Length:	142 French feet[1]
Beam:	41 French feet
Draught:	24½ French feet
Draft:	20½ French feet
Depth of hold:	17¾ French feet
Complement:	450 men (350 in peacetime), + 8 officers
Armament:	68 guns

Designed and built by Pierre Masson, she was begun at Rochefort in July 1692 as one of the replacements for the ships destroyed by an English attack at La Hougue in June 1692. She was launched in February 1693 and completed in May 1693.

Fort took part in the Battle of Lagos on 28 June 1693 and was burnt to avoid capture by the English and Dutch squadron during the attack on Vigo on 22 October 1702.

Notes and citations

1. The French (pre-metric) foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent English foot.

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 223. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Nomenclature des Vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 a 1715. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – various dates).
• The Sun King's Vessels (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE. ISBN 978-2903179885
• Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.