French ship Prompt (1692)
Prompt was a second rank two-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was armed with 70 guns, comprising twenty-eight 24-pounder guns on the lower deck and thirty 12-pounder guns on the upper deck, with twelve 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and the forecastle.
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | Prompt |
| Ordered: | June 1692 |
| Builder: | Dunkirk |
| Laid down: | September 1692 |
| Launched: | 25 December 1692 |
| Commissioned: | March 1693 |
| Fate: | Captured at the Battle of Vigo in October 1702 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 154 French feet[1] |
| Beam: | 40 French feet |
| Draught: | 24½ French feet |
| Draft: | 22 French feet |
| Depth of hold: | 15 French feet 8 inches |
| Complement: | 500 men (380 in peacetime), + 10 officers |
| Armament: | 70, later 76 guns |
Designed and built by René Levasseur, she was begun at Dunkirk in September 1692 as one of the replacements for the ships destroyed by an English attack at La Hougue in June 1692. She was launched on 25 December 1692 and completed in March 1693.
Prompt took part in the Battle of Lagos on 28 June 1693. In 1698 she was substantially rebuilt at Brest Arsenal and emerged shorter by 9 feet, but now armed with 76 guns, comprising twelve 36-pounder and fourteen 24-pounder guns on the lower deck and twenty-eight 12-pounder guns on the upper deck, with twelve 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and six more on the forecastle, as well as four smaller 4-pounder guns on the poop.
She was captured by Edward Hopsonn's squadron during the attack on Vigo on 22 October 1702, and added to the English Navy as HMS Prompt Prize. She saw little service under her new ownership, being condemned on 20 May 1703 and taken to pieces at Chatham during the following month.
Notes and citations
- 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.