Argonaute-class ship of the line

Class overview

Name	Argonaute
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Scipion class
Completed	2
General characteristics
Class and type	Argonaute class
Displacement	1,500 tonnes
Length	55.22 m (181 ft 2 in)
Beam	14.29 m (46 ft 11 in)
Draught	7.39 m (24 ft 3 in)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	74 guns comprising: Lower deck ("1st tier") 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper deck ("2nd tier") 30 × 18-pounder long guns Gaillards ("3rd tier") 16 × 8-pounder long guns

The Argonaute class was a class of two 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers. The design was lengthened by 4feet 9½ inches (4½ pieds) from the designer's previous Scipion class, which had been found to lack stability. The designer died on 10 October 1780, and the construction of these ships was completed by Jean-Denis Chevillard, who was appointed his successor as ingénieur-constructeur en chef at that dockyard in July 1781.

Ships

Argonaute

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard

Ordered: June 1779

Begun: August 1779

Launched: 5 June 1781

Completed: December 1781

Fate: Cut down (raséed) to a 'heavy' frigate 1793-94 and renamed Flibustier; disarmed in December 1795 and later taken to pieces.

Brave

Builder: Lorient Dockyard

Ordered: June 1779

Begun: October 1779

Launched: 6 June 1781

Completed: November 1781

Fate: Cut down (raséed) to a 'heavy' frigate 1793-94 (but not renamed); reduced to a hulk at Brest in January 1798, and later taken to pieces.

Notes and references

References

^ Winfield & Roberts, French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861, p.86.
^ Roche, p.48
Roche, p.84

Bibliography

Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 508. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2017) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626–1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
Winfield, Rif and 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.

French Navy ship of the line classes timeline, 1750s–1900s

Type	1750s–1760s				1770s–1780s				1790s–1800s				1810s–1820s				1830s–1840s				1850s–1860s				1870s–1880s				1890s–1900s
	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	00	05	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	00	05
130 gun three-decker																						Bretagne
110-120 gun three-decker		Sans-Pareil class						Océan class
				Bretagne																Valmy
							Terrible class						Commerce de Paris class
90-100 gun two-decker																					Napoléon class
																Suffren class
																		Hercule class
80-gun two-decker			Saint-Esprit class
								Deux Frères				Bucentaure class
									Tonnant class
74-gun two-decker	Hector class
	Magnifique class
		Souverain class
		Diadème class
				Citoyen class
				Marseillois
					César class
							Magnanime class
							Annibal class
							Scipion class
							Pégase class
							Téméraire class
								Centaure class

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