French ship Victoire (1773)

Victoire represented on a painting of the naval review of 1777 in Toulon. She is incorrectly depicted as a three-decker; Victoire was actually a 74-gun, with two batteries.
History
France
Name:	Victoire
Namesake:	Victory
Builder:	Lorien
Laid down:	August 1768
Launched:	4 October 1770
Commissioned:	January 1773
Out of service:	July 1792
General characteristics
Displacement:	1500 tonnes
Length:	55.2 m (181 ft)
Beam:	14.1 m (46 ft)
Draught:	6.9 m (23 ft)
Armament:	74 guns
Armour:	Timber

Victoire was a Bien-Aimé-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

In July 1778, Victore departed Toulon, bound for the Mediterranean, in the context of the American Revolutionary War, under Captain d'Albert Saint Hyppolyte. On 12 August, she captured the sloop HMS Industry, and on 28 the 10-gun Levant (?).

On 1 May 1779, Victoire took part in the capture of HMS Montreal, along with Bourgogne. The next day she confronted HMS Thetis off Gibraltar.

British records largely agree. When Thetis and Montreal saw two large ships approaching under Dutch colours, they suspected that the strange ships were French and attempted to sail away. Thetis succeeded, but at 9p.m., Bourgogne and Victoire caught up with Montreal, came alongside, and ordered Douglas to send over a boat. Captain Douglas sent over Lieutenant John Douglas, whom the French ordered to Douglas to hail Montreal and instruct her to strike. Captain Douglas attempted to escape, but after the French had fired several broadsides into Montreal he struck.

Victoire took part in the Battle of Martinique and the Battle of the Chesapeake.

Victoire was eventually decommissioned in Brest in 1782, and broken up in 1792.