French ship Saint Michel (1741)

History
France
Name: Saint Michel
Builder: Brest [1]
Laid down: November 1738 [1]
Launched: January 1741 [1]
In service: May 1741 [1]
Out of service: May 1786 [1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Saint Michel class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 950 tons [1]
Length: 46.6 metres [1]
Beam: 12.5 metres [1]
Draught: 6.3 metres [1]
Depth of hold: 5.9 metres [2]
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 64 guns

Saint Michel was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

Career

Built for the Crown, Saint Michel was originally manned by officers of the French East India Company. During the War of the Austrian Succession, Saint Michel was part of a squadron under Admiral de Rochambeau; on 17 August 1744, she captured the 20-gun HMS Solebay near Gibraltar.[1] In 1747, her command was transferred to Navy officers. [1]

In 1761, she was recommissioned in Rochefort under Captain de Lizardais to serve in the Seven Years' War, to served in the Caribbean theatre, but she never actually departed.[1] She was then refitted as a 60 gun ship in 1762.[2]

Saint Michel was part of the Battle of Ushant (1778)[2] which was the first major French-British naval conflict of the American Revolutionary War, and later took part in the capture of HMS Ardent off Plymouth on 17 August 1779.[1]

She was part of the Battle of Martinique (1780) in the West Indies.[2]

Appointed to Suffren's squadron in the Indian Ocean, she took part in the battles of Trincomalee and Cuddalore, before she returned to France in 1784.[1]

Saint Michel carried out another mission to the Indian Ocean in 1787 before returning to France to be hulked the next year.[1]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

    Citations

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Roche, vol.1, p.398
    2. 1 2 3 4 "French Third Rate ship of the line 'Le Saint Michel' (1741)". Threedecks. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

    References

    • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 398. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
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