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French ship Téméraire (1749)

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History
French Royal Navy EnsignFrance
NameTéméraire
Ordered18 December 1747
BuilderPierre-Blaise Coulomb, Toulon Dockyard
Laid downAugust 1748
Launched24 December 1749
Commissioned1750
Captured18 August 1759, by Royal Navy
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameTemeraire
Acquired18 August 1759
FateSold, June 1784
General characteristics [1]
Class and type74-gun third rate ship of the line
Tonnage1580
Displacement2800
Tons burthen1685 tons
Length161¾ French feet[a]
Beam43½ French feet
Draught19 French feet
Depth of hold21 French feet
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement680, + 6/13 officers
Armament74 guns of various weights of shot

Téméraire was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, ordered in December 1747 to a design by François Coulomb, and built at Toulon by his cousin, the constructor Pierre-Blaise Coulomb; she was launched on 24 December 1749.[1] Her 74 guns comprised:
28 × 36-pounders on the lower deck
30 × 18-pounders on the upper deck
10 × 8-pounders on the quarterdeck
6 × 8-pounders on the forecastle.

HMS Warspite under Admiral Boscawen captured Téméraire at the Battle of Lagos on 18 August 1759. She was thus taken into the Royal Navy and recommissioned as the Third Rate HMS Temeraire.[1]

By 1780 she was used as a floating battery used to protect the harbour at Plymouth. She was sold in 1783.[2]

Fate

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Temeraire was sold out of the navy in 1784.[1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The French (pre-metric) foot was 6.575% longer than the contemporary British unit of measurement of that name.

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1. p178.
  2. ^ Famous Fighters of the Fleet. Edward Fraser, 1904, p.217

References

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  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
  • Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S., French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing, 2017) ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.