The ''Surveillante'' class was a type of sixty-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 ...

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 in 1823 by

Mathurin-François Boucher Mathurin François Boucher ( Nantes, 22 November 1778 – Marseille, 31 March 1851) was a French naval engineer. He is notable for his adaptation of the technique of ship camel to large 74-guns, and for designing the ''Surveillante'' class of 60- ...

.Maquette de bateau, Belle Poule, frégate de 1er rang, 1834

Musée national de la Marine The Musée national de la Marine (National Navy Museum) is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort ( Musée National de la Marine de Roc ...

One of the main innovations with respect to previous design was the disappearance of the gangways, which provided a

flush deck Flush deck is a term in naval architecture. It can refer to any deck of a ship which is continuous from stem to stern. History The flush deck design originated with rice ships built in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh), resulting i ...

capable of harbouring a complete second battery. With the standardisation on the 30-pounder calibre for all naval ordnance that occurred in the 1820s, this design allowed for a frigate throwing a 900-pound broadside, thrice the firepower of the 40-gun that constituted the majority of the frigate forces during the Empire, and comparable to that of 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 ...

. By far the best-known ship of the class is , which achieved fame when she transported the ashes of

Napoléon 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 ...

back to France in the so-called ''

Retour des cendres The ''retour des cendres'' (literally "return of the ashes", though "ashes" is used here as meaning his mortal remains, as he was not cremated) was the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I of France from the island of Saint Helena to Fran ...

''; for this occasion, she was painted all black, a colour scheme that she retained later in her career, but which is uncharacteristic of the ships of this type. *Roche, p. 428 :Builder: Lorient :Begun: :Launched: 29 September 1825 :Completed: :Fate: deleted 22 August 1844. *Roche, p. 69 :Builder: Cherbourg :Begun: :Launched: 28 June 1828 :Completed: :Fate: renamed ''Indépendante'' 9 August 1830, deleted 24 October 1860. *Roche, p. 304 :Builder: Cherbourg :Begun: :Launched: 28 July 1828 :Completed: :Fate: deleted 20 March 1845. *Roche, p. 241 :Builder: Lorient :Begun: :Launched: 25 August 1828 :Completed: :Fate: wrecked off Bermuda 3 December 1838. *Roche, p. 70 :Builder: Cherbourg :Begun: :Launched: 26 March 1834 :Completed: :Fate: deleted 19 March 1861. *Roche, p. 410 :Builder: Lorient :Begun: :Launched: 6 February 1841 :Completed: :Fate: wrecked 16 February 1855 off Bonifacio. *Roche, p. 41 :Builder: Lorient :Begun: :Launched: 8 March 1841 :Completed: :Fate: deleted 17 August 1869. *Roche, p. 208 :Builder: Cherbourg :Begun: :Launched: 16 September 1841 :Completed: :Fate: deleted 23 October 1883. *Roche, p. 339 :Builder: Lorient :Begun: :Launched: 15 August 1860 :Completed: :Fate: hulked 23 October 1883

Sources and references

References

Sources

* {{Surveillante class frigate Surveillante Ship classes of the French Navy