The ''Seine'' class was a class of four 42-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

s of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. A fifth vessel, ''Furieuse'', was originally ordered at

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

in February 1794 to Forfait's design, but was instead completed to the design of the ''Seine'' class. The ship builder Charles-Henri Le Tellier produced a variant of the Forfait design after the latter went to Venice in 1797. Two further vessels, originally ordered as the final pair to the ''Seine'' design and begun to that design in July 1797, were completed to the variant design as the ''Valeureuse'' class, which were about longer than earlier ''Seine''-class vessels. The vessels were originally designed to carry a main armament of 24-pounder guns, but in the event all were completed at Le Havre with 18-pounders.

''Seine'' class

* ''Seine'' :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: May 1793 :Launched: 19 December 1793 :Completed: March 1794 :Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 30 June 1798, becoming HMS ''Seine''. * ''Révolutionnaire'' :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: October 1793 :Launched: 28 May 1794 :Completed: July 1794 :Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 21 October 1794, becoming HMS ''Revolutionnaire''. * ''Spartiate'' :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: May 1794 :Launched: late November 1794 :Completed: December 1794 :Fate: Renamed ''La Pensée'' May 1795. Converted to a breakwater in November 1804, deleted 1832. * ''Indienne'' :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: December 1794 :Launched: 2 September 1796 :Completed: October 1797 :Fate: Burnt to avoid capture by the Royal Navy in April 1809. * ''Furieuse'' :Builder: Cherbourg :Begun: March 1795 :Launched: 22 September 1796 :Completed: May 1798 :Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 6 July 1809, becoming HMS ''Furieuse''.

''Valeureuse'' class

* ''Valeureuse''Winfield and Roberts (2015), p.142. :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: July 1797 :Launched: 29 July 1798 :Completed: March 1800 :Fate: Sold in September 1806 at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania for breaking up following condemnation as irreparable at Philadelphia. * ''Infatigable'' :Builder: Le Havre :Begun: July 1797 :Launched: 6 April 1799 :Completed: March 1800 :Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 24 September 1806, becoming HMS ''Immortalité''; never commissioned and sold in January 1811 at Plymouth for breaking up.

Citations

References

* * * * {{cite book, last1=Winfield, first1=Rif, last2=Roberts, first2=Stephen S., year=2015, title=French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates, publisher=Seaforth Publishing, isbn=978-1-84832-204-2

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Ship classes of the French Navy