François Coulomb the Younger (

La Ciotat La Ciotat (; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, La Ciutat ; in Mistralian spelling ''La Ciéutat''; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmost ...

, 1691 -

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

, July 1751) was a French naval architect (''ingénieur-constructeur''), the son of

François Coulomb the Elder François Coulomb the Elder was a French naval architect and builder of warships (''ingénieur-constructeur''), the son of Laurent Coulomb. François Coulomb was born on 24 January 1654 at La Ciotat, and died on 20 March 1717 at Toulon. He was fir ...

. During his career, he designed 18 ships for the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

, and oversaw the construction of most of them.

Biography

Born to a family of naval engineers of renown, the son of

, François Coulomb was appointed master-constructor in 1727. His first designs were for the 8-gun bomb vessels ''Tempête'' (launched 1726) and ''Foudroyante'' (1728). In 1727, he designed the frigate ''Zéphyr'' (1728), a light (''demi-batterie'') frigate of 28 guns. In 1730, he designed the 50-gun ''Diamant''. In 1733, he completed the design of the 62-gun ''Borée''. In 1737, he began the

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

''Terrible'' (1739). Both ships were longer than their predecessors, each allowing an extra pair of guns on their lower decks. The year 1740 saw the design and commencement of the 80-gun ''Tonnant'' (launched 1743). In 1743, he designed the 28-gun frigate ''Diane'' (launched 1744). In 1745, he designed the 64-gun ''Triton'', and the 74-gun ''Conquérant'' (1746), which was rebuilt in 1764 to the specifications of the Citoyen ''class''. In 1748, he began work on the 80-gun ''Foudroyant'' and the 30-gun ''Pomone'', and the next year, the 50-gun ''Hippopotame''. He designed two more 74-gun ships - ''Redoutable'' and ''Téméraire'' - which were completed after his death. His last achievement, in 1751, was the design of the 80-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

''Océan''. The plans were completed just before he died, and the ship was built by Joseph Chapelle and launched in 1756.

References

* *''Nomenclature des navires français de 1715 a 1774''. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – 1995). *Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. .
Le ''Téméraire'', Vaisseau de ligne de 74 canons
*Solange Ami, ''Les maîtres constructeurs de la marine à Toulon au XVIIIe siècle'', Mémoire en vue de la maîtrise d'histoire, Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines de Nice, 1974. *Éric Rieth, ''Le « Livre de construction des vaisseaux » (1683) du maître charpentier toulonnais François Coulomb (1654-1717).'' *Archives Nationales, série ''C/7/74'', dossiers Coulomb.
Archives départementales du Var, Parish Register St.Louis, Toulon ''7 E 145/40''
1691 births 1751 deaths French naval architects People from Bouches-du-Rhône {{France-engineer-stub