The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.
The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.
PégaseBuilder: Brest DockyardOrdered: June 1781Begun: June 1781Launched: 5 October 1781Completed: February 1782Fate: Captured by HMS
Foudroyant in the Bay of Biscay on 21 April 1782 (with 80 men of her crew killed); renamed HMS
Pegase; hulked 1794 at Plymouth, until broken up in 1815.
Puissant Builder: Lorient DockyardOrdered: 13 July 1781Begun: August 1781Launched: 13 March 1782Completed: June 1782Fate: Surrendered to the British by her Royalist crew during the Siege of Toulon on 29 September 1793; removed to England at the evacuation of the city; became a hulk in Portsmouth 1796; broken up in 1816.
Dictateur Builder: Toulon DockyardOrdered: 13 July 1781Begun: July 1781Launched: 16 February 1782Completed: August 1782Fate: Renamed
Liberté on 29 September 1792. Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon on 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1808.
Suffisant Builder: Toulon DockyardOrdered: 13 July 1781Begun: July 1781Launched: 6 March 1782Completed: August 1782Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.
Alcide Builder: Rochefort DockyardOrdered: 13 July 1781Begun: July 1781Launched: 25 May 1782Completed: January 1783Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own
heated shots, and exploded.
Censeur Builder: Rochefort DockyardOrdered: 13 July 1781Begun: August 1781Launched: 24 July 1782Completed: October 1783Fate: Captured by the British at the
Battle of Cape Noli 14 March 1795; retaken in the Action of 7 October 1795 by de Richery's squadron off Cape St Vincent; sold at Cadiz to Spain in June 1799 in exchange for the Spanish
San Sebastián.
