Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782. Painting by
Dominic Serres
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Pégase |
Operators | |
Completed | 6 [1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Pégase class |
Tons burthen | 1500 tonnes [2] |
Length | 55.2 metres [2] |
Beam | 14.3 metres [2] |
Draught | 6.8 metres [2] |
Propulsion | Sails |
Armament |
|
The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781. [3]
The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.
Foudroyant and Pégase entering Portsmouth Harbour, 1782. Painting by
Dominic Serres
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Pégase |
Operators | |
Completed | 6 [1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Pégase class |
Tons burthen | 1500 tonnes [2] |
Length | 55.2 metres [2] |
Beam | 14.3 metres [2] |
Draught | 6.8 metres [2] |
Propulsion | Sails |
Armament |
|
The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781. [3]
The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.