''Océan'' was a 118-gun

first-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least ...

three-decker

ship 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 tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, lead ship''Commerce de Marseille'' was ordered after ''États de Bourgogne'' (which was later renamed ''Océan''), but launched before her; therefore, the ship type is alternatively called ''Commerce de Marseille'' class or ''Océan'' class of her class. She was funded by a

don des vaisseaux The ''don des vaisseaux'' (English language, English: gift of the vessels) was a Subscription (finance), subscription programme launched by French statesman Étienne François de Choiseul, Duke of Choiseul in 1761 to rebuild the French Navy to mak ...

donation from the Estates of Bourgogne. She was ordered as ''États de Bourgogne'' and was launched at Brest in 1790. Like many French ships of the line during the Revolutionary period, she was renamed several times, becoming ''Côte d'Or'' in January 1793, ''Montagne'' in October 1793, ''Peuple'' on 17 May 1795, and a matter of weeks later again renamed, to ''Océan''. She served until 1855. A large model of a generic ''Océan''-class ship, named ''Océan'', at the scale can be seen at the Musée de la Marine in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Career

As the largest ship of the line in the Brest fleet, the ship spent much of her early career as the fleet

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

. As ''Montagne'', the ship was the

of Counter-admiral

Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse Vice-Admiral Louis-Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (29 May 1747Granier, p.87Some biographers give a date of 1750 (Levot, p.541). Granier quotes the registers of Sainte-Marie parish. – 24 July 1812Levot, p.544) was a French Navy officer and poli ...

at the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was fought on 1 June 1794 between the British and French navies during the War of the First Coalition. It was the first and largest fleet a ...

on 1 June 1794. She was badly damaged by , losing 313 men and receiving 233 round shots in her hull. On 17 May 1795, she was renamed ''Peuple''; a month later, on 23 June she fought in the

Battle of Groix The Battle of Groix (, ) took place on 23 June 1795 off the island of Groix in the Bay of Biscay during the War of the First Coalition. It was fought between elements of the British Channel Fleet and the French Ponant Fleet, Atlantic Fleet, whi ...

as Villaret's flagship. Returning to

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

three days later, she was officially renamed to ''Océan'', a name that had been in use since 30 May. She was refitted in Brest in 1797. In 1801, she once again served as Villaret's flagship, ferrying troops of Leclerc's expedition to

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

. ''Océan'' was Allemand's flagship at the

Battle of the Basque Roads The Battle of the Basque Roads, also known as the Battle of Aix Roads ( French: ''Bataille de l'île d'Aix'', also ''Affaire des brûlots'', rarely ''Bataille de la rade des Basques''), was a major naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought in ...

. She was decommissioned on 2 August 1850, and used as a floating

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

from May 1851.

Notes

Citations

References

* "Le vaisseau trois-ponts l’Océan",

Jean Boudriot Jean Pierre Paul Boudriot, (20 March 1921 in Dijon — 22 February 2015 in Paris) was a French naval architect and notable historian of weaponry and naval engineering. Boudriot was one on the foremost instigators of the renaissance of naval archa ...

, in ''Neptunia'' n° 102 (1971), page 21. * * (1671-1870)

External links

French ship Océan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocean (1790) Ships of the line of the French Navy Océan-class ships of the line 1790 ships Don des vaisseaux Ships built in France