French ship Neptune (1778)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Neptune.

model ship, Saint-Remi museum
History
France
Name	Neptune
Launched	20 August 1778
Fate	Wrecked 28 January 1795
General characteristics
Displacement	1,500 tonnes
Length	54.7 m (179 ft)
Beam	14.3 m (47 ft)
Draught	6.7 m (22 ft)
Armament	74 guns: Lower gundeck: 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder long guns Forecastle and Quarter deck: 16 × 8-pounder long guns 4 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

Neptune was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Career

Neptune captured a 30-gun British privateer named Hercules on 28 October 1778.

On 2 May 1780, she departed Brest with a 7-ship and 3-frigate Expédition Particulière under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the Continental Army in the War of American Independence. The squadron comprised the 80-gun Duc de Bourgogne, under Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and Médine (flag captain); the 74-gun 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.

In 1782, she was part of de Grasse's squadron. Neptune engaged HMS Repulse and HMS Canada in the Battle of the Saintes, under Renaud d'Aleins.

Decommissioned, she was reactivated to take part in the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 and in the Croisière du Grand Hiver. She ran aground and was destroyed on 28 January 1795, with the loss of 50.

References

• Contenson, Ludovic (1934). La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778-1783). Paris: éditions Auguste Picard. OCLC 7842336.
• Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion.
• Monaque, Rémi (2000). Les aventures de Louis-René de Latouche-Tréville, compagnon de La Fayette et commandant de l'Hermione (in French). Paris: SPM.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 324. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.

External links

• Ships of the line