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French ship America (1788)

Achille
Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship America (1788), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.
History
Revolutionary French Navy EnsignFrance
Name: America
Namesake: America
Builder: Brest
Laid down: 1787
Launched: 21 May 1788
Commissioned: 1789
Captured: 1 June 1794
United Kingdom
Name: Impétueux
Acquired: 1 June 1794
Honours and
awards:
Fate: Broken up in 1813
General characteristics
Class and type: Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement:
  • 1,966 tonnes
  • 3,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length: 55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam: 14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught: 7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion: Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament:
Armour: Timber

America was a Téméraire-class ship of the line 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1794 at the Battle of the Glorious First of June. She then served with the British under the name HMS Impetueux until she was broken up in 1813. She became the prototype for the Royal Navy America-class ship of the line.

The vessel was captured by HMS Leviathan at the Battle of the Glorious First of June. In 1795 the Admiralty renamed her HMS Impétueux as there was already a ship named America in the British navy.

On 5 October 1796, Captain John Willet Payne was given command. After a refit at Portsmouth, she sailed for Spithead on 11 October, where her refit continued until she sailed on English Channel duty on 28 October, returning to Spithead on 1 January 1797. In that year Payne resigned his commission through ill-health and Captain Sampson Edwards assumed command until 1799, when Captain Sir Edward Pellew took over on 1 March 1799.

In March 1799, while under Pellew's command, some of the crew of Impetueux fomented a mutiny. The Marine Guard remained loyal, which enabled Pellew to suppress the mutiny. Three were hanged and six were flogged around the fleet before being transferred to other ships.

On 4 June 1800, a squadron under Captain Edward Pellew in Impetueux, the 32-gun frigate Thames, Captain William Lukin, the 16-gun ship sloop Cynthia and some small-craft, attacked the south-west end of Quiberon and silenced the forts. Troops under Major Ramsey then landed and destroyed the forts. The attack resulted in the British taking several vessels and scuttling others. The only casualties were in Cynthia, which lost two men killed and one wounded.


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