César-class ship of the line

The César class or Zélé class included two 74-gun ships of the line designed by Joseph Coulomb. They were a development of his earlier 74-gun ship, the Zélé of 1763.

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 10 March 1767
Launched: 3 August 1768
Fate: Captured and burnt by the British at the Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782
  • Destin
Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 7 February 1770
Launched: 21 October 1777
Fate: Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793, and burnt by them there in December 1793

Class overview
Name: César
Builders: Toulon Dockyard
Operators:  French Navy
Completed: 2
General characteristics
Type: Ship of the line
Tonnage: 1,500 tons
Displacement: 2,900 tons
Length: 157½ French feet[1]
Beam: 43½ French feet
Draught: 20 French feet 8 inches
Depth of hold: 29¾ French feet
Decks: 2 gun decks
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 715 (later 734), + 6/12 officers
Armament:
  • 74 guns:
  • Lower gundeck: 28 × 36-pounder long guns
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder long guns
  • Forecastle and Quarter deck:
  • 6 × 8-pounder long guns
Armour: Timber
Notes: Ships in class include: César, Destin

Sources and references
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 223. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Nomenclature des navires français de 1715 á 1774. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – 1995). ISBN 2-906381-19-5.
  • Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
  1. The French (pre-metric) foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent French foot.
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