History
French Navy Ensign French Navy Ensign French Navy EnsignFrance
NameSouverain
Namesake"Sovereign"
Ordered25 October 1755
BuilderToulon
Laid downDecember 1755
Launched6 May 1757
In serviceNovember 1757
RenamedPeuple Souverain in September 1792
Captured2 August 1798
Great Britain
NameGuerrier
Acquired12 August 1798
FateGuard ship, Broken up 1810
General characteristics
Class and typeSouverain-class ship of the line
Displacement1536 tons (French)
Length53.3 m (175 ft)
Beam14.1 m (46 ft)
Draught7.1 m (23 ft)
PropulsionSail
Armament
  • 28 × 36-pounders
  • 30 × 18-pounders
  • 16 × 8-pounders
ArmourTimber

Souverain was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake, in 1781. In 1792, she was renamed Peuple Souverain ("Sovereign People").

In 1798, she took part in the battle of the Nile. A shot from HMS Orion (at the rear of the British line) cut her cable and she drifted out of position,[1] later in the battle being captured by the British.[2]

She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Guerrier, but was in too bad a shape to serve in the high sea, so she was used as a guard ship. She was broken up in 1810.[3]

Citations

  1. Palmer, p. 10
  2. Crowdy, p. 47
  3. Winfield & Roberts p.105

References

  • Crowdy, Terry (2005). French Warship Crews 1789–1805: From the French Revolution to Trafalgar. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-745-X.
  • Palmer, Michael A. (2005). Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control Since the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01681-5.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2017). French warships in the age of sail, 1626-1786: design, construction, careers and fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473893511.


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