The ''Ville de Varsovie'' was a ''Bucentaure''-class 80-gun ship of the line 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 Chaumont from original plans by Sané. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at Arsenal de Rochefort in

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, as ''Tonnant'' on 22 March 1805. In 1807,

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

established the

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

and made a considerable effort to mobilize

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

national sentiment on France's behalf, and accordingly ''Tonnant'' was renamed ''Ville de Varsovie'' ("City of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

") while still under construction. She was launched on 10 May 1808. Commissioned on 18 June 1808 under Captain Mahé, he became part of the Rochefort

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

. In April 1809, ''Ville de Varsovie'' was part of the French Atlantic Fleet blockaded in Basque Roads at the mouth of the Charente on the

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

coast of

by a

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 ...

squadron. On the afternoon of 12 April, during the Battle of Basque Roads, ''Ville de Varsovie'' was aground on rocks at low tide in Basque Roads near Charenton when British warships attacked. After two hours of pounding by the British fleet with little chance to fire back, ''Ville de Varsovie'' surrendered after her crew suffered about 100 casualties, and the British

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 ...

ship of the line captured her. Although the leader of the British attack, Lord Thomas Cochrane, disapproved of the decision, the commanding officer of the 74-gun third rate ship of the line , Captain John Bligh, deemed ''Ville de Varsovie'' beyond repair and set her afire during the night of 12–13 April 1809. The fire completed the destruction of ''Ville de Varsovie'' during the predawn hours of 13 April 1809.Cordingley, David (2007). Cochrane the Dauntless. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. , p. 200.

Citations

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ville De Varsovie Ships of the line of the French Navy Ships built in France Bucentaure-class ships of the line 1808 ships Maritime incidents in 1809 Shipwrecks in the Bay of Biscay