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French ship Audacieux (1816)

Audacieux was a 74-gun built for the French Navy during the 1810s. Completed in 1816, she was captured by the Netherlands while still under construction.

Background and description

Audacieux was one of the of the Téméraire class that was specially intended for construction in some of the shipyards in countries occupied by the French, where there was less depth of water than in the main French shipyards. The ships had a length of , a beam of and a depth of hold of . The ships displaced 2,781 tonneaux and had a mean draught of . They had a tonnage of 1,381 port tonneaux. Their crew numbered 705 officers and ratings during wartime. They were fitted with three masts and ship rigged.

The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of the Téméraire class consisted of twenty-eight 36-pounder long guns on the lower gun deck and thirty 18-pounder long guns on the upper gun deck. The ships ordered in 1803–1804 were intended to mount sixteen 8-pounder long guns on their forecastle and quarterdeck, plus four 36-pounder obusiers on the poop deck (). Later ships were intended to have fourteen 8-pounders and ten 36-pounder carronades without any obusiers, but the numbers of 8-pounders and carronades actually varied between a total of 20 to 26 weapons.

Construction and career

Audacieux was laid down in December 1812 in Amsterdam and was seized by the Dutch when the French evacuated the city on 14 November 1813. She was renamed Coalitie, then to Wassenaar. The ship was launched in October 1816 and completed the following year. She was wrecked on 16 January 1827.

Citations

References

  • Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing.