The ''Citoyen'' was a

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 ...

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 ...

of 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 ...

, lead ship of her class to a design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier. She was funded by a ''

don des vaisseaux The ''don des vaisseaux'' (lit. "gift of ships of the line") was a subscription effort launched by Étienne François de Choiseul, Duke of Choiseul and secretary of State to the Navy in 1761 as an effort to rebuild the French naval power, diminis ...

'' donation from the Bankers and General Treasurers of the Army.

Career

Ordered in May 1757 as ''Cimeterre'', the ship was renamed ''Citoyen'' on 20 January 1762. A launching attempt aborted on 10 August 1764, when she came to a halt on the ramp, and she was eventually set afloat 17 days later. She took part in the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780 under Captain Poute de Nieuil. In 1781, under Alexandre de Thy, she was appointed to the squadron of Admiral de Grasse and took part in the

Battle of Fort Royal The Battle of Fort Royal was a naval battle fought off Fort Royal, Martinique in the West Indies during the Anglo-French War on 29 April 1781, between fleets of the British Royal Navy and the French Navy. After an engagement lasting four hours, th ...

in April. On 24 August, along with ''Glorieux'', she captured HMS ''Cormorant'' off Charleston. In September, she took part in the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...

on 5 September 1781, in the Battle of St Kitts on 25/26 January 1782 and the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

on 12 April 1782. In 1783, on returning to France, she was decommissioned, and was eventually broken up in 1791.

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External links

Naval Database
Ships of the line of the French Navy Citoyen-class ships of the line 1764 ships {{France-line-ship-stub