The ''Tonnant'' was a
First Rank 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 Royal 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 ...
, the lead vessel in the two-ship ''Tonnant'' Class (her sister being the
''Saint Philippe'').
This ship was ordered in late 1692 to be built at
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 ...
Dockyard, and on 20 January 1693 she was allotted the name ''Tonnant'', taking the name of a
ship
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
lost in the
action at La Hogue in June 1692. The designer and builder of both ships was
François Coulomb, and they represented an enlargement of his design of 1691 for the
''Sceptre'', with an extra pair of guns (and gunports) added on each level. They were three-decker ships without forecastles. The ''Tonnant'' was launched on September 1693 and completed in December of the same year.
She was initially armed with 90 guns, comprising twenty-eight 36-pounders on the lower deck, thirty 18-pounders on the middle deck, twenty-six 12-pounders on the upper deck, and six 6-pounders on the quarterdeck. A fifteenth pair of 12-pounders was added on the upper deck about 1706, raising her to 92 guns.
The ''Tonnant'' was rebuilt at Toulon from November 1701 to January 1702; she took part in the
Battle of Vélez-Málaga
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 ...
on 24 August 1703. In July 1707 - during the siege of Toulon - she and her sister were undergoing a refit in the basin of Le Mourillon, and avoided the scuttling order which affected most other French ships at Toulon; they were sailed to counter the British attack, and subsequently were used as floating batteries. The ''Tonnant'' was condemned at Toulon on 7 April 1710, and on the following 28 May she was ordered to be sold and taken to pieces.
References
*
*''Nomenclature des Vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 a 1715''. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – various dates).
*''The Sun King's Vessels'' (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE.
*Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonnant (1693)
Ships of the line of the French Navy
1690s ships