The ''Conquérant'' was originally launched in 1746 on a design by

François Coulomb the Younger François Coulomb the Younger (La Ciotat, 1691 - Toulon, July 1751) was a French naval architect (''ingénieur-constructeur''), the son of François Coulomb the Elder. During his career, he designed 18 ships for the French Navy, and oversaw the con ...

. She was taken out of service in March 1764 and rebuilt at Brest as 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 ...

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 ...

Career

In 1778, ''Conquérant'' was under Monteil, part of the Third division in the Blue squadron of the fleet under Orvilliers. She took part in the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778, where Monteil was wounded. On 2 May 1780, she departed Brest with the 7-ship and 3-frigate

Expédition Particulière ''Expédition Particulière'' (English: Special Expedition) was the codename given by the Kingdom of France for the plan to sail French land forces to North America to support the colonists against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. Numberi ...

under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the Continental Army in the

War of American Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. The squadron comprised the 80-gun ''Duc de Bourgogne'', under Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and Médine (

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 ...

); the

''Neptune'', under Sochet Des Touches, and ''Conquérant'', under La Grandière; and the 64-gun ''Provence'' under Lombard, ''Ardent'' under Bernard de Marigny, ''Jason'' under La Clocheterie and ''Éveillé'' under Le Gardeur de Tilly, and the frigates ''Surveillante'' under Villeneuve Cillart, ''Amazone'' under La Pérouse, and ''Bellone''. ''Amazone'', which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at Boston on 11 June 1780. She took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she was armed with only 18- and 12-pounders, and crewed by a mere 400 men, under captain Dalbarade.LA CAMPAGNE D'EGYPTE
Second ship in the vanguard of her line, ''Conquérant'' sustained fire from the passing British ships sailing to attack the centre of the French fleet. She was particularly targeted by HMS ''Audacious'' and ''Goliath'', who reduced her to a hulk before 19:00. Immobilised, hopelessly overgunned and undermanned, her captain mortally wounded, ''Conquérant'' struck her colours and was seized by a boarding party from ''Audacious''. She was subsequently recommissioned 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 ...

under the same name.

Notes, citations, and references

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * * * External links
Naval Database
Ships of the line of the French Navy Citoyen-class ships of the line 1746 ships {{France-line-ship-stub