French ship Hercule (1798)
Fight of the Poursuivante - 28th of June 1803, by Louis-Philippe Crépin (detail)
HMS Hercule receives raking fire |
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Hercule |
| Namesake: | Hercules |
| Ordered: | 14 August 1793 |
| Builder: | Lorient shipyard |
| Laid down: | June 1794 |
| Launched: | 5 December 1797 |
| Completed: | March 1798 |
| Captured: | 21 April 1798 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Hercule |
| Acquired: | 21 April 1798 |
| Fate: | Broken up in December 1810 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Téméraire-class ship of the line |
| Tonnage: | 1876 bm |
| Displacement: |
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| 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: |
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| Armour: | Timber |
HMS Hercule was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was previously Hercule, a Téméraire class ship of the line of the French Navy, but was captured on her maiden voyage in 1798, and spent the rest of her career as a British ship. She was broken up in 1810.
During her maiden journey, on 21 April 1798, and just 24 hours out of port, she was captured by the British ship HMS Mars after a violent fight at the Battle of the Raz de Sein, off Île de Sein near Brest. Hercule attempted to escape through the Passage du Raz, but the tide was running in the wrong direction, and she was forced to anchor, giving the British the chance to attack at close quarters. The two ships were of equal force, both seventy-fours, but Hercule was newly commissioned; after more than an hour and a half of bloody fighting at close quarters she struck her colours at 10.30 pm, having lost — by her own officers' estimate — 290 men killed and wounded. On Mars 31 men were killed, including her captain, Alexander Hood, and 60 wounded. Captain Louis Lhéritier of Hercule was wounded by sabre and spike leading his boarding party.
The Hercule was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Hercule.
In mid-1803, the squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun, consisting of Cumberland, Hercule, Bellerophon, Elephant, and Vanguard captured Poisson Volant and Superieure. The Royal Navy took both into service.
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Wikipedia