Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Minerve class frigate

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Name
  
Minerve

Preceded by
  
Nymphe class

Planned
  
6

Builders
  
Toulon

Succeeded by
  
Seine class

Operators
  
French Navy  Royal Navy

The Minerve class was a type of 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, carrying 18-pounder long guns as their main armament. Six ships of this type were built at Toulon Dockyard, and launched between 1782 and 1794. The frigates served the French Navy briefly during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured all six between 1793 and 1799 and took them into service, with all but one serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and some thereafter.

The first four frigates were built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. Jacques Brune Sainte Catherine modified Coulomb's design for the fifth, lengthening it to permit the addition of a 14th pair of gunports on the upper deck. Catherine further redesigned the class for the sixth, final frigate. The French Navy preferred the designs by Jacques-Noël Sané. However, the more rounded hull form of the Minerve-class vessels' found favour with the Royal Navy, leading it to copy the design.

Ships

  • Minerve
    • Ordered: 30 October 1781 Begun: January 1782 Launched: 31 July 1782 Completed: October 1782 Fate: Captured by the British 18 February 1794, taken into service as HMS San Fiorenzo, broken u 1837
  • Junon
    • Ordered: 30 October 1781 Begun: February 1782 Launched: 31 July 1782 Completed: October 1782 Fate: Captured by the British 16 June 1799, taken in as HMS Princess Charlotte, renamed HMS Andromache January 1812, broken up 1828
  • Impérieuse
    • Ordered: November 1785 Begun: February 1786 Launched: 11 July 1787 Completed: May 1788 Fate: Captured by the British 12 October 1793, taken in as HMS Captain, renamed HMS Unite 3 September 1803, hospital hulk 1836, broken up 1858
  • Melpomène
    • Ordered: 1787 Begun: February 1788 Launched: 6 August 1789 Completed: April 1792 Fate: Captured by the British 10 August 1794, taken om as HMS Melpomene, sold on 14 December 1815
  • Perle
    • Ordered: 1789 Begun: June 1789 Launched: 27 August 1790 Completed: September 1792 Fate: Handed over to the British 29 August 1793, taken in as HMS Amethyst, wrecked 27 December 1795
  • Minerve
    • Ordered: Begun: late 1791 Launched: 4 September 1794 Completed: October 1794 Fate: Captured by the British 23 June 1795, taken in as HMS Minerve, recaptured by the French 3 July 1803, renamed Canonnière, sold June 1809 and renamed Confiance, recaptured by the British 3 February 1810 and sold

    References

    Minerve class frigate Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA