Minerve-class frigate

The Minerve class was a type of 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, carrying 18-pounder long guns as their main armament. Six ships of this type were built at Toulon Dockyard, and launched between 1782 and 1794. The frigates served the French Navy briefly during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured all six between 1793 and 1799 and took them into service, with all but one serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and some thereafter.

Class overview
Name: Minerve
Builders: Toulon
Operators:
Preceded by: Nymphe class
Succeeded by: Seine class
Planned: 6
Completed: 6
General characteristics
Type: Frigate
Sail plan: Ship-rigged
Armament:
Armour: Timber

The first four frigates were built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. Jacques Brune Sainte Catherine modified Coulomb's design for the fifth, lengthening it to permit the addition of a 14th pair of gunports on the upper deck. Catherine further redesigned the class for the sixth, final frigate. The French Navy preferred the designs by Jacques-Noël Sané. However, the more rounded hull form of the Minerve-class vessels' found favour with the Royal Navy, leading it to copy the design.[1]

Dimensions
Type Length (overall) Length (keel) Beam Displacement
Minerve (1782) 46.13 m (151.3 ft) 41.58 m (136.4 ft) 11.69 m (38.4 ft) 1,330 tons
Perle 46.26 m (151.8 ft) 41.09 m (134.8 ft) 11.69 m (38.4 ft) 1,362 tons
Minerve (1794) 48.07 m (157.7 ft) 42.87 m (140.6 ft) 12.02 m (39.4 ft) 1,450 tons
All feet are British measure All tons are French

Ships
Ordered: 30 October 1781
Begun: January 1782
Launched: 31 July 1782
Completed: October 1782
Fate: Captured by the British 18 February 1794, taken into service as HMS San Fiorenzo, broken up 1837
Ordered: 30 October 1781
Begun: February 1782
Launched: 31 July 1782
Completed: October 1782
Fate: Captured by the British 16 June 1799, taken in as HMS Princess Charlotte, renamed HMS Andromache January 1812, broken up 1828
Ordered: November 1785
Begun: February 1786
Launched: 11 July 1787
Completed: May 1788
Fate: Captured by the British 12 October 1793, taken in as HMS Captain, renamed HMS Unite 3 September 1803, hospital hulk 1836, broken up 1858
Ordered: 1787
Begun: February 1788
Launched: 6 August 1789
Completed: April 1792
Fate: Captured by the British 10 August 1794, taken om as HMS Melpomene, sold on 14 December 1815
  • Perle
Ordered: 1789
Begun: June 1789
Launched: 27 August 1790
Completed: September 1792
Fate: Handed over to the British 29 August 1793, taken in as HMS Amethyst, wrecked 27 December 1795
Ordered:
Begun: late 1791
Launched: 4 September 1794
Completed: October 1794
Fate: Captured by the British 23 June 1795, taken in as HMS Minerve, recaptured by the French 3 July 1803, renamed Canonnière, sold June 1809 and renamed Confiance, recaptured by the British 3 February 1810 and sold

Citations and references

Citations
  1. Winfield and Roberts (2015), p. 135-6.

References
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI : nomenclature des navires français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Nice: Omega. ISBN 2-906381-23-3. Lay summary.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-295-X.
  • Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042
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