The ''Pacificateur'' was a 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 ...

, designed by Sané. She was the first ship to sustain damage from Paixhans shells, during test-firing of Paixhans' canon-obusiers.

History

Commissioned in Antwerp in 1814, ''Pacificateur'' remained anchored at the entrance of the harbour to protect it until the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

. In September 1814, she arrived in Brest, where she stayed until she was condemned, in 1824. In January 1824, ''Pacificateur'' was used as a

target ship A target ship is a vessel — typically an obsolete or captured warship — used as a seaborne target for naval gunnery practice or for weapons testing. Targets may be used with the intention of testing effectiveness of specific types of ammuniti ...

to test new 22 cm canon-obusiers invented by

Henri-Joseph Paixhans Henri-Joseph Paixhans (; January 22, 1783, Metz – August 22, 1854, Jouy-aux-Arches) was a French artillery officer of the beginning of the 19th century. Henri-Joseph Paixhans graduated from the École Polytechnique. He fought in the Napoleonic ...

. The wooden sides of ''Pacificateur'' sustained devastating damages from the explosive shell, starting the decline of wooden warships and rise of the

ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacificateur Ships of the line of the French Navy Ships built in France Bucentaure-class ships of the line Ships sunk as targets 1811 ships