Serpente-class corvette

The Serpente class was a class of four 20-gun corvettes for the French Navy, designed by Charles-Henri Tellier as a follow-on to the Etna-class corvettes of the previous year.[2] Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract, with three being ordered at Honfleur in 1794 and a fourth at Le Havre across the Seine estuary in 1795. The vessels were flush-decked and designed to carry a battery of twenty 18-pounder guns.[2]

Class overview
NameSerpente
Operators
In commission1796–1816
Completed4
Lost1
Retired3
General characteristics [1]
TypeCorvette
Displacement727 ton (French)
Tons burthen350 (bm)[Note 1]
Length40.28 m (132 ft 2 in) (overall)
Beam9.745 m (31 ft 11.7 in)
Draught3.84 m (12 ft 7 in)
PropulsionSail
Complement188
Armament20 × 18-pounder long guns
ArmourTimber

The Royal Navy captured one of the four vessels in the class, and burnt another in action.

Serpente class (4 ships)

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Builder: Jean-Louis Pestel, Honfleur
Begun: October 1794
Launched: 1 September 1795
Completed: January 1796
Fate: Floating battery 1806, hulked 1807. Condemned to be broken up 1815.
Builder: Louis Deros, later Nicolas Loquet, Honfleur
Begun: September 1794
Launched: 8 June 1800
Completed: September 1800
Fate: Employed as survey ship for Australian expedition in 1800. Powder hulk 1807, later barracks ship. Deleted 1819.
Notes: Renamed from Uranie in 1797, then from Galatée in June 1800. Loquet took over her building after Deros's early death, but then refused to launch her until he was paid.
Builder: Fortier Brothers, Honfleur
Begun: October 1794
Launched: 29 December 1795
Completed: January 1796
Fate: Broken up in Rochefort August/September 1830
Notes: Captured on 25 June 1803 off the Azores by HMS Endymion, and became HMS Bacchante, sold 1809.
Builder: Foouache & Reine, Le Havre
Begun: September 1795
Launched: 10 May 1797
Completed: February 1798
Fate: Destroyed on 29 May 1798 in the mouth of the Dives (river) by HMS Hydra.

Notes

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  1. ^ This is based on the descriptions of the member of the class that the Royal Navy captured, as described in Winfield.[2]

Citations

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  1. ^ Winfield and Roberts (2015), pp. 172-3.
  2. ^ a b c Winfield (2008), pp. 232 & 272.

References

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  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671–1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1861762467.
  • Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042