French frigate Résolue (1778)

Engageante (left) and Résolue (right) battling HMS Concorde at the Action of 23 April 1794
History
France
Name:	Résolue
Namesake:	Resolute
Builder:	Lemarchand, Saint Malo; plans by Léon-Michel Guignace
Laid down:	April 1777 as No. 1
Launched:	16 March 1778
In service:	April 1778
Captured:	14 October 1798
United Kingdom
Name:	Resolue
Acquired:	14 October 1798
Fate:	Hulk in Plymouth Broken up 1811
General characteristics
Class and type:	Iphigénie-class frigate
Displacement:	1,150 tons (French)
Tons burthen:	877  27⁄94 (bm)
Length:	140 ft 2 in (42.72 m) (overall); 116 ft 3 in (35.43 m) (keel)
Beam:	37 ft 8 in (11.48 m)
Draught:	4.9 m (16 ft) (unladen)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	French service:270-290 British service:54 (as receiving ship)
Armament:	French service: 26 × 12-pounder guns + 6 × 6-pounder guns; between 1793 and 1795 she also had 2 × 36-pounder obusiers, and between 1796 and 1798 she also had 4 × 36-pounder obusiers British service:28 × 18-pounder guns + 4 × 6-pounder guns

Résolue was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice, once in November 1791 during peacetime, and again in 1798. The Royal Navy hulked her in 1799 and she was broken up in 1811.

In January 1779, Résolue was part of a squadron under Admiral Vaudreuil that captured Fort St Louis in Senegal from the British in February. The troops were under the command of the Duc de Lauzun. In September she was at Martinique undergoing repairs and refitting.

In April 1781 Résolue was at Brest, being coppered.

On 15 July, after having cruised for 50 days, the French 32-gun frigates Friponne, Lieutenant le Chevalier de Blachon, and Résolue captured Speedy, Swift, the four merchant vessels Spy, Adventure, Peggy, and Success, and the 10-gun privateer Queen. The British ships were on their way to the Windward Islands.

Speedy, Captain Spargo, and Swift, both of 16 guns and 80 men, were both Post Office packet boats. They were carrying despatches for Barbadoes, St Lucia, Antigua and Jamaica.Speedy, which had left Falmouth on 18 June, was the packet that the government was expecting to arrive in Britain with the news of the departure of the homeward-bound fleet from Jamaica. The French took Speedy and Swift into Martinique, and the rest of the prizes into Guadeloupe. At Martinique the French Navy took Speedy into service. On 6 December, however, the British recaptured Speedy off Barbados.

In 1783 Résolue was again at Brest for repairs.

In November 1791, Résolue was escorting merchant ships, when HMS Phoenix and HMS Perseverance captured her at the battle of Tellicherry. Résolue suffered 25 men killed and 40 wounded. As this occurred during peacetime, the British restored her to France at Mahé. In 1793 she was at Brest being repaired.