Pourvoyeuse-class frigate

Class overview
Name	Pourvoyeuse
Operators	French Navy
Succeeded by	Hébé class
Planned	2
Completed	2
General characteristics
Class and type	Pourvoyeuse class frigate
Displacement	840 tonnes
Length	50 m (160 ft)
Beam	12.3 m (40 ft)
Draught	6.3 m (21 ft)
Armament	Main deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns forecastle: 12 × 8-pounder guns

The Pourvoyeuse class was a type of heavy frigates of the French Navy, designed in the 1770s by Louis Boux. The class comprise two units, Pourvoyeuse and Consolante, which served in the Indian Ocean and were involved in the naval operations of the American Revolutionary War, notably serving in the squadron of Admiral de Suffren.

They constituted one of the earliest attempts at building a frigate armed with 24-pounders on the artillery deck, rather than the 18-pounders typical of the day. The attempt was unfruitful, and the ships were commissioned armed with old 18-pounders. Several further such attempts were made later with the Résistance, Forte and Romaine classes. The concept was eventually perfected with the original six frigates of the United States Navy, before becoming moot with the introduction of a different artillery system based on 30-pounder long guns and 30-pounder short guns in the 1820s.

• Pourvoyeuse

Builder: Lorient

Ordered: 6 February 1772

Launched: 10 November 1772

Completed: 1773

Fate: Broken up

• Consolante

Builder: Lorient

Ordered:

Launched: 26 June 1775

Completed:

Fate:

References

Bibliography

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714-1792, Seaforth Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.