''Mont Blanc'' 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 ...

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

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. In the course of her career, she was renamed no less than four times, reflecting the tides of politics with the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. During the Wars of the First and Second Coalitions, ''Mont Blanc'' took part in the last actions of the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

, in the

Croisière du Grand Hiver The ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' (French "Campaign of the Great Winter") was a French attempt to organise a winter naval campaign in the wake of the Glorious First of June. Context The Glorious First of June had ended on a strategic success f ...

, in the

Battle of Hyères Islands A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and in Bruix' expedition of 1799; after peace was restored in the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary doma ...

, she served during the

Saint-Domingue expedition The Saint-Domingue expedition was a French military expedition sent by Napoleon I of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, then French Consulate, First Consul, under his brother-in-law Charles Leclerc (general, born 1772), Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc ...

. ''Mont Blanc'' took part of the vanguard of the French fleet the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

on 21 October 1805, and consequently saw little action as this division was cut off from the battle. The squadron was destroyed during the

Battle of Cape Ortegal The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar campaign, and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been defeated earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar. It took place on 4 November 180 ...

on 4 November 1805, where ''Mont Blanc'' was captured. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy but never saw action again.

Career

She was built at Rochefort as ''Pyrrhus'' in 1791. She was renamed ''Mont Blanc'' in 1793 before being renamed ''Trente-et-un Mai'' in 1794. Under that name she fought at the

in 1794 under Captain Ganteaume. She took part in the ''

'', where she rescued the crew of the sinking ''Scipion''.Levot, p.207 In 1795 she was renamed ''Républicain'', taking part in the

, and Ganteaume's expedition of 1795, and then became ''Mont Blanc'' again in 1796. She took part in Bruix' expedition of 1799 under Captain Maistral. In 1802 she took part in the

under Magon. She was one of the ships of Rear-Admiral Lepelley at the

on 21 October 1805. Dumanoir commanded the six ship vanguard of the French fleet, with , , ''Duguay-Trouin'', ''Mont Blanc'', and .

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's attacks left these ships downwind of the main confrontation and Dumanoir did not immediately obey Villeneuve's orders to return to the battle. When the ships did turn back, most of them only exchanged a few shots before retiring. On 4 November 1805, Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, with , , , and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the squadron at the

. ''Mont Blanc'' was taken and commissioned in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as HMS ''Mont Blanc''. She was used as a

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from 1811, and was sold in 1819.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mont Blanc (1793) Ships of the line of the French Navy Téméraire-class ships of the line Captured ships Ships built in France 1791 ships