''Triomphant'' was an 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 ...

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 ...

Career

Laid down in

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 ...

in March 1778 by the designer-builder Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb, she was launched on 31 March 1779 and completed in June 1779. In 1779, ''Triomphant'' was the flagship of the White-and-Blue squadron (van) of the fleet of

Guichen Guichen (; ; Gallo: ''Gischen'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. History Population Inhabitants of Guichen are called ''Guichenais'' in French. Image gallery File: Halles-guichen-2014 ...

, under

Chef d'escadre ''Chef d'escadre'' (; literally "squadron commander") was a rank in the French Navy during the Ancien Régime and until the French Revolution. The rank was changed to '' contre-amiral'' by a law passed on 15 May 1791. History The first chefs ...

de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine human sexuality, sexuality as well as n ...

, with Gras-Préville as

flag captain In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First ...

. As such, he took part in the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780, and in the actions of

15 May Events Pre-1600 * 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. * 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbog ...

and 19 May 1780. She then sailed back to France. In 1781, she was under Chérisey de Nouroy. On 12 April 1782, she took part in 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 ...

under

Vaudreuil, with Cheyron du Pavillon as

. She was captured at Toulon by the Anglo-Spanish forces in August 1793, and was burnt there on 18 December 1793 during the evacuation of the port. Her remains were refloated in 1805 and broken up.

Citations and references

Citations References * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Triomphant (1779) Ships of the line of the French Navy 1779 ships Maritime incidents in 1793