The Citoyen was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class to a design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Bankers and General Treasurers of the Army.[1]
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small}  France | |
| Name | Citoyen |
| Namesake | "Citizen" |
| Ordered | May 1757[1] |
| Builder | Brest[1] |
| Laid down | July 1761[1] |
| Launched | 27 August 1764[1] |
| In service | December 1764[1] |
| Fate | Broken up 1791 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Citoyen class ship of the line |
| Tonnage | 1,500 tons |
| Displacement | 3,000 tons |
| Length | 169½ French feet[Note 1] (55.06 metres) |
| Beam | 43 French feet (13.97 metres) |
| Draught | 21 French feet (6.82 metres) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 715 men in wartime, 650 in peacetime, + 6/12 officers |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Timber |
Career edit
Ordered in May 1757 as Cimeterre, the ship was renamed Citoyen on 20 January 1762. A launching attempt aborted on 10 August 1764, when she came to a halt on the ramp, and she was eventually set afloat 17 days later.[1]
She took part in the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780 under Captain Poute de Nieuil.[2][3]
In 1781, under Alexandre de Thy,[4] she was appointed to the squadron of Admiral de Grasse and took part in the Battle of Fort Royal in April. On 24 August, along with Glorieux, she captured HMS Cormorant off Charleston. In September, she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, in the Battle of St Kitts on 25/26 January 1782 and the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782.
In 1783, on returning to France, she was decommissioned, and was eventually broken up in 1791.[1]
Notes edit
- ^ Note that the (pre-metric) French foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent British unit of measurement.
Citations edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Roche (2005), p. 116.
- ^ Contenson (1934), p. 235.
- ^ Troude (1867), p. 71.
- ^ Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 648.
References edit
- Contenson, Ludovic (1934). La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778-1783). Paris: éditions Auguste Picard. OCLC 7842336.
- Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. pp. 431–434.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 116. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé.
- Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S (2017). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626–1786: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
External links edit
- Naval Database Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
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