Name Souverain Ordered 25 October 1755 Laid down December 1755 Construction started December 1755 Length 53 m Beam 14 m | Namesake "Sovereign" Builder Toulon In service November 1757 Launched 6 May 1757 Draft 7.1 m | |
Souverain was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.
She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake, in 1781. In 1792, she was renamed Peuple Souverain ("Sovereign People").
In 1798, she took part in the battle of the Nile. A shot from HMS Orion (at the rear of the British line) cut her cable and she drifted out of position, later in the battle being captured by the British. She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Guerrier, but was in too bad a shape to serve in the high sea, so she was used as a guard ship.
References
French ship Souverain (1757) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA