French ship Ambitieux (1692)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Ambitieux.

History
France
Name	Ambitieux
Builder	Rochefort Dockyard
Laid down	June 1692
Launched	5 December 1692
Commissioned	May 1693
Out of service	March 1713
Status	Broken up in 1713
General characteristics
Length	155 French feet
Beam	45 French feet 4 inches
Draught	24½ French feet
Depth of hold	20 French feet 2 inches
Complement	850 men (650 in peacetime), + 11 officers
Armament	92 (later 96) guns

The Ambitieux was a First Rank three-decker ship of the line of the French Royal Navy. She was initially armed with 92 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounder guns on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the middle deck, and twenty-six 8-pounder guns on the upper deck, with ten 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck. By 1706 an additional pair of 8-pounders were added on the upper deck, and an extra pair of 6-pounders was added on the quarterdeck, raising the ship to 96 guns; she briefly received four 100-pounders to replace four 36-pounders, but the latter were restored soon after.

Designed and begun by Honoré Malet, and completed after Malet's death by Jean Guichard, she was begun at Rochefort Dockyard in June 1692 and launched on January 1693. She was a replacement for the previous ship of the same name, destroyed by an English attack at La Hougue in June 1692. She took part in the Battle of Lagos on 28 June 1693. She was sold and broken up at Brest in 1713.

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 Vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 a 1715. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – various dates).
• The Sun King's Vessels (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE. ISBN 978-2903179885
• 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.