The ''Leon Trionfante''-class were a class of at least fourteen 70-gun

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 ...

ships 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 colum ...

Even if by contemporary British practice these 70-gun ships should be rated as third rates, for the Venetian Navy the ''Leon Trionfante''-class were first rate vessels. This different classification dated back to the previous century, but Venice never changed it for prestige issues. built by the Venetian

Arsenale The Venetian Arsenal ( it, Arsenale di Venezia) is a complex of former shipyards and armories clustered together in the city of Venice in northern Italy. Owned by the state, the Arsenal was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic's ...

from 1716 to 1785, in four different series with minor changes in the ships' length. In 1797, when Venice

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle o ...

to the French,

Napoleon 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 who ...

captured several ships of the class, still unfinished in the Arsenal: he chose one of them, forced the shipbuilders to have it completed and added it to his fleet ''en route'' for

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. After Campoformio, the remaining vessels were destroyed by the French to avoid their capture by the

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Design and history

Almost all the ships of this class were planned and started before 1739, completed to a 70%, then stored in the roofed shipbuilding docks of the Arsenale to be finished and launched when the Venetian Navy need them, a solution the

British 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 ...

adopted only in 1810, when the docks at

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

were covered. This decision, mostly due to the chronic lack of funds of the Republic of Venice in its final years, led to retain in service older and inferior ships than the ones built at the same time for the British Royal Navy and 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 ...

. Moreover, contemporary third rates had heavier guns (32-pounders on the gun deck and 18-pounders on the upper gun deck), even if the armament of those ships could be brought up to 72-74 guns. Except for the ''Leon Trionfante'' and the ''Diligenza'', none of this class' ships remained in service for more than fifteen years.

Ships

* ''Buon Consiglio'' :Ordered: 1719 :Launched: 1761 :Fate: Broken up, 1776 * ''Fedeltà'' :Ordered: 1719 :Launched: 1769 :Fate: Broken up, 1783 * ''Forza'' :Ordered: 1719 :Launched: 1774 :Fate: Wrecked, 1784 Stern-view-Leon-Trionfante

* ''Corriera Veneta'' :Ordered: 1722 :Launched: 1770 :Fate: Wrecked, 1771 * ''Diligenza'' :Ordered: 1724 :Launched: 1774 :Fate: Broken up, 1797 * ''Fenice'' :Ordered: 1723 :Launched: 1779 :Fate: Sunk, 1786 * ''Galatea'' :Ordered: 1722 :Launched: 1779 :Fate: Broken up, 1793 Leon-Trionfante-Sail-plan

* ''Vittoria'' :Ordered: 1732 :Launched: 1784 :Fate: Broken up, 1797 * ''La Guerriera'' :Ordered: 1732 :Launched: 1785 :Fate: Burnt, 1785 * ''Medea'' :Ordered: 1732 :Launched: 1793 :Fate: Captured, 1797 * ''Eolo'' :Ordered: 1739 :Launched: 1782 :Fate: Captured, 1797 * ''San Giorgio'' :Ordered: 1736 :Launched: 1785 :Fate: Captured, 1797

References

Notes

Citations

Websites

* * *

Books

* *{{cite book, last1=Levi, first1=Cesare Augusto, title=Navi da guerra costruite nell'Arsenale di Venezia dal 1664 al 1896, date=1896, publisher=Stabilimento Tipografico Fratelli Visentini, location=Venice, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HAsAAAAYAAJ Ships of the line of the Venetian navy Ship of the line classes Ships built by the Venetian Arsenal 18th century in the Republic of Venice