French frigate Andromaque (1777)

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

History
France
NameAndromaque
NamesakeAndromache
Ordered29 September 1777[1]
BuilderBrest
Laid downAugust 1777[1]
Launched24 December 1777[1]
In serviceApril 1778[1]
FateScuttled by fire
General characteristics
Class and typeNymphe-class frigate
Displacement750 tonnes
Length46.9 m (153 ft 10 in)
Beam11.9 m (39 ft 1 in)
Height5.8 m (19 ft 0 in)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament

Andromaque was a 32-gun Nymphe-class frigate of the French Navy.

Career

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Andromaque was commissioned in Brest in 1778 and took part in the American War of Independence. After an overhaul in which she was coppered in April 1780, she captured the British 20-gun post ship HMS Unicorn on 4 October 1780, off Tortuga.[1] The French Navy took Unicorn into service as La Licorne.

On 21 April 1781, Andromaque landed troops for the Siege of Pensacola, in the squadron under Monteil.[1]

On 20 April 1782, a 10-ship convoy departed Brest escorted by the 74-gun Protecteur and Pégase, and the frigates Indiscrète and Andromaque.[1] At sunset, at the mouth of the English Channel, the convoy met a British force of three 74-gun ships of the line under John Jervis; in the ensuing action of 20–21 April 1782, Pégase and the 64-gun Actionaire, armed en flûte, were captured.

Andromaque was decommissioned in November 1791 and lied in reserve at Rochefort, until June 1793, when she was armed again.[1] Then was then tasked with convoy escort duty between Rochefort and La Rochelle, under Captain Renaudin.[2] She had a battle against a ship of the line and four Spanish frigates.[3]

In 1794, Andromaque cruised in the Bay of Biscay under Lieutenant Guillotin. Lieutenant Farjenel took command later that year.[4] In 1795, she crossed the Atlantic to Guadeloupe,[1] and Lieutenant Morel took command.[5]

On 22 August 1796, while cruising with a naval division, she sprang a leak and has to detach. She was then chased by the frigate HMS Galatea and the brig HMS Sylph and beached herself in Arcachon Bay to avoid capture.[6] The crew jumped overboard and swam to the shore, 20 men drowning to death.[1] The British launched boats whose parties boarded and took prisoner Andromaque's captain, Lieutenant Morel, and four officers, and rescued a number of Portuguese prisoners who had been the crews of two Brazilian ships that her squadron had captured.[1] A boarding party from Sylph set fire to Andromaque as they left and she was completely burnt.[7][8] There are reports that after seizing the entire crew, the British kept only the officers and released the seamen, only to open fire on them as they attempted to return ashore.[9]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roche, p. 41
  2. ^ Fonds Marine, p. 43
  3. ^ Levot, p. 431
  4. ^ Fonds Marine, p. 77
  5. ^ Fonds Marine, p. 144
  6. ^ Fonds Marine, p. 167
  7. ^ "No. 13931". The London Gazette. 17 September 1796. pp. 879–880.
  8. ^ James (1837), Vol. 1, pp. 343–5.
  9. ^ Guérin, vol.6, p. 110

References

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