The Etna class was a class of six 16 or 18-gun corvettes with a flat hull, designed by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and his pupil Charles-Henri Tellier. Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract - including André-François Normand, Courtois and Denise at Honfleur, and Fouache at Le Havre (2 ships), while the sixth vessel was built by Pierre Ozanne at Cherbourg Dockyard. The vessels were flush-decked and originally designed to carry a 12" mortar. However, as the British navy captured Etna within a year and a half of her launch at which time she was not carrying any mortar, it is possible that the design was modified quite early to delete the mortar.
The Royal Navy captured three of the six vessels in the class. Three members of the class (including two in Royal Navy service), were lost to wrecking or grounding. Only one of the corvettes served for over 20 years.
EtnaBuilder: André François and Joseph-Augustin Normand, HonfleurBegun: June 1794Launched: April 1795Completed: May 1795Fate: Captured by HMS
Melampus on 13 November 1796. Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS
Aetna and later renamed HMS
Cormorant. Wrecked off Egypt in May 1800.
CérèsBuilder: Jean Fouache, Le HavreBegun: May 1794Launched: May 1795Completed: July 1795Fate: Wrecked on the shores of Norway on 17 February 1798Notes: Renamed from
Courageuse in May 1795; may have been renamed in 1797 to '"Engant de la Patrie
VésuveBuilder: Denise, HonfleurBegun: June 1794Launched: 7 August 1795Completed: October 1795Fate: Broken up in Rochefort August/September 1830Notes: Fitted as a flûte between November 1802 and June 1803; refitted at Le Havre in February 1807 and reclassified as a 20-gun corvette; on 31 October 1815 her use as a headquarters hulk in place of
Serpente was approved.
ÉtonnanteBuilder: Fouache & Reine, HonfleurBegun: June 1796Launched: 27 August 1795Completed: November 1796Fate: Hulked in Brest in 1806
MignonneBuilder: Cherbourg Dockyard;
constructeurs: Pierre Ozanne and after March 1795 Jean-François LafosseBegun: 6 October 1794Launched: 15 October 1795Completed: April 1797Fate: HMS
Goliath captured
Mignonne in June 1803 in the West Indies. Though the Royal Navy never commissioned her, she did serve briefly before she grounded in December 1804 and was condemned.
TorcheBuilder: Courtois, HonfleurBegun: June 1794Launched: April 1795Completed: May 1795Fate: Captured in August 1805 by HMS
Goliath and incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS
Torch. She was never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.
