French frigate Vertu (1794)
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Battle of Vertu and Régénérée against HMS Brilliant
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Vertu |
| Namesake: | Virtue |
| Ordered: | 16 February 1793 |
| Builder: | Lorient |
| Laid down: | October 1793 |
| Launched: | 28 June 1794 |
| In service: | September 1794 |
| Captured: | 30 November 1803, by the Royal Navy |
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Virtu |
| Acquired: | 30 November 1803 |
| Fate: | Broken up December 1810 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 40-gun frigate |
| Length: | 46.8 metres |
| Beam: | 11.9 metres |
| Draught: | 5.7 metres |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament: |
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Vertu was a 40-gun French frigate designed by engineer Segondat. She served in Sercey's squadron in the Indian Ocean, and in Saint-Domingue. She was captured by the Royal Navy at the end of the Blockade of Saint-Domingue when the island surrendered to the British. After her capture the Navy sailed her to Britain but never commissioned her, and finally sold her in 1810.
Ordered as Vertu at the heigh of the Reign of Terror, the frigate was commissioned in Lorient. In May 1793, she sailed from Brest to Île-d'Aix under Captain Montagniès-Laroque
She took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver in December 1794, and escorted the 74-gun Redoutable after she broke her cables upon departure.
On 3 February, a violent gust of wind damaged Sercey's naval division, which was readying for a transit to Mauritius and a campaign in the Indian Ocean, damaging Cocarde;Vertu, under Lhermite, was chosen to replace her. The division departed Rochefort on 4 March 1796, leaving behind Vertu which had yet to complete her preparation and rejoined the division Palma. The division arrived at Port-Louis on 18 June.
There, Vertu took part in the various commerce raiding actions of the division, including the Action of 8 September 1796, where she sustained more damage than her fellows; after the battle, she required a tow from Régénérée.
In August 1797, she ferried troop from Mauritius to Batavia. With dwindling support from the colony of Mauritius, Sercey had to send Régénérée, under Willaumez, and Vertu back to France.Vertu departed the Indian Ocean theatre in September, under Captain Magon, sailing from Mauritius to Rochefort and escorting two merchantmen of the Spanish Royal Company of the Philippines to Europe.
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Wikipedia