French ship Victoire (1773)

Victoire was a Bien-Aimé-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Victoire.
Victoire represented on a painting of the naval review of 1777 in Toulon. She is incorrectly depicted as a three-decker; Victoire was actually a 74-gun, with two batteries.
History
France
Name: Victoire
Namesake: Victory
Builder: Lorien [1]
Laid down: August 1768 [1]
Launched: 4 October 1770 [1]
Commissioned: January 1773 [1]
Out of service: July 1792 [1]
General characteristics
Displacement: 1500 tonnes [1]
Length: 55.2 m (181 ft) [1]
Beam: 14.1 m (46 ft) [1]
Draught: 6.9 m (23 ft) [1]
Armament: 74 guns
Armour: Timber

Career

In July 1778, Victore departed Toulon, bound for the Mediterranean, in the context of the American Revolutionary War, under Captain d'Albert Saint Hippolyte. On 12 August, she captured the sloop HMS Industry, and on 28 August, the 10-gun Levant (?).[1]

On 1 May 1779, Victoire took part in the capture of HMS Montreal, along with Bourgogne. The next day she confronted HMS Thetis off Gibraltar.[1][2][3][4][note 1]

British records largely agree. When Thetis and Montreal saw two large ships approaching under Dutch colours, they suspected that the strange ships were French and attempted to sail away. Thetis succeeded, but at 9p.m., Bourgogne and Victoire caught up with Montreal, came alongside, and ordered Douglas to send over a boat. Captain Douglas sent over Lieutenant John Douglas, whom the French ordered to Douglas to hail Montreal and instruct her to strike. Captain Douglas attempted to escape, but after the French had fired several broadsides into Montreal he struck.[5]

Victoire took part in the Battle of Martinique and the Battle of the Chesapeake.[1]

Victoire was eventually decommissioned in Brest in 1782, and broken up in 1792.[1]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Roche states that Victoire captured Thetis and brought her to Malaga. Other sources state that Thetis escaped.

Citations
  1. Roche, vol.1, p.462
  2. Winfield. British Warships of the Age of Sail. p. 190.
  3. Department of National Defence Canada, History of HMCS Montreal Archived 2011-06-15 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 18 September 2010)
  4. (in French) Histoire du vaisseau du Roi « La Bourgogne » (1761-1783), Archives navales de Brest (Retrieved 18 September 2010)
  5. Hepper (1994), p. 55.

References
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 462. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.


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