French ship Saint-Esprit
The Saint-Esprit in action. (Detail of an English painting of 1784) | |
History | |
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France | |
Name | Saint-Esprit[1] |
Namesake | Order of the Holy Spirit |
Ordered | 11 January 1762[1] |
Builder | Arsenal of Brest[1] |
Laid down | May 1762[1] |
Launched | 12 October 1765[1] |
Christened | 20 January 1762 [1] |
Commissioned | 1766[1] |
Decommissioned | 26 January 1795[1] |
Renamed | Scipion in April 1794[1] |
Fate | Wrecked off Brest on 26 January 1795[1] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Saint-Esprit-class ship of the line |
Displacement | 1,754 tonnes[1] |
Length | 59.8 m (196 ft 2 in)[1] |
Beam | 14.9 m (48 ft 11 in)[1] |
Draught | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)[1] |
Complement | 970 |
Armament |
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Saint-Esprit ("Holy Ghost") was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.[1] She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Order of the Holy Spirit, and named in its honour.
Career
[edit]She took part in the Battle of Ushant under La Motte-Picquet, and to the Armada of 1779.[1]
In 1781, on 29 April, she took part in the Battle of Fort Royal under Chabert-Cogolin.[2][3]
She was renamed Scipion in April 1794, and took part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 under Huguet, where she was totally dismasted.[1] She was wrecked on 30 January 1795, during the Croisière du Grand Hiver.[1] Most of her crew were rescued by Trente-et-un Mai.[1][4]
As a young man, Swedish naval officer Johan Herman Schützercrantz served on board the Saint–Esprit; he would later become a rear admiral in Swedish service.[5]
Citations
[edit]References
[edit]- Levot, Prosper (1866). Les gloires maritimes de la France: notices biographiques sur les plus célèbres marins (in French). Bertrand.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
- Kerguelen, Yves-Joseph (1796). Relation des combats et des évènements de la guerre maritime de 1778 entre la France et l'Angleterre (in French). Imprimerie de Patris.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé. OCLC 836362484.