French frigate Niémen (1808)
Combat de la frégate Niemen contre les frégates Aréthusa et Amethyst, by Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Niémen |
| Namesake: | Neman River |
| Builder: | Chantier Courau Frères, Bordeaux |
| Laid down: | May 1807 |
| Launched: | 8 November 1808 |
| In service: | January 1809 |
| Captured: | 6 April 1809, by the Royal Navy |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Niemen |
| Acquired: | 5 April 1809 |
| Fate: | Broken up in September 1815 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 38-gun fifth rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 1,093 37⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 39 ft 10 3⁄4 in (12.2 m) |
| Draught: | 12 ft 5 7⁄8 in (3.8 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 300 (later 315) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Niemen was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate. She began her career as the Niémen, a 44-gun French Navy Armide-class frigate, designed by Pierre Rolland. She was only in French service for a few months when in 1809 she encountered some British frigates. The British captured her and she continued in British service as Niemen. In British service she cruised in the Atlantic and North American waters, taking numerous small American prizes, some privateers but mostly merchantmen. She was broken up in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Chantier Courau Frères at Bordeaux built Niémen to a design by Pierre Rolland, carrying 40 guns. She was launched in 1808 but spent only months in French service. She was commissioned at Bordeaux on 22 November 1808, but not completed until January 1809. On 4 April 1809 she sailed under the command of Commandant Jean Dupotet for Fort-de-France with stores and a substantial crew of 319.
Two days later, as she was in the Bay of Biscay, she encountered three British vessels, including the 36-gun frigate HMS Amethyst, under the command of Captain Sir Michael Seymour. Also sailing in company with Amethyst were the 36-gun HMS Emerald, (Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland), and the 38-gun HMS Arethusa, (Captain Robert Mends).
Seymour, who had previously won fame by capturing the French frigate Thétis the previous November, gave chase at 11am. After a sustained chase lasting all day, the Amethyst lost sight of the Emerald, which could not match the speed of the two others, and had failed to gain on the Niémen. Seymour then wore his ship around and was able to bring himself close to the Niémen at 9.30pm.
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Wikipedia