HMS Belleisle (1795)
HMS Belleisle after the Battle of Trafalgar
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Lion, Marat, Formidable |
| Namesake: | Jean-Paul Marat |
| Builder: | Rochefort shipyard |
| Laid down: | August 1791 as Lion |
| Launched: | 29 April 1794 |
| Commissioned: | June 1794 |
| Renamed: |
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| Captured: | 23 June 1795, by Royal Navy at the Battle of Groix |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Belleisle |
| Acquired: | by capture, 23 June 1795 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1814 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Téméraire-class ship of the line |
| 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 |
Lion was a Téméraire class 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was named Lion on 23 April 1790 and built at Rochefort from August 1791 until June 1794. She was renamed Marat on 28 September 1793 (7 months before being launched) and then Formidable on 25 May 1795, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.
She took part in the Action of 6 November 1794, managing to rake HMS Alexander.
Fighting under captain Linois on 23 June 1795 at the Battle of Groix, she was captured by HMS Barfleur near the French port of Lorient. She was taken into service in the Royal Navy, but because the Navy already had a Formidable, she was renamed Belleisle, apparently in the mistaken belief that she had been captured off Belle Île, rather than the Île de Groix.
Captained by William Hargood, she was the second ship in the British lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and as such was engaged by the Franco-Spanish ships Achille, Aigle, Neptune, Fougueux, Santa Ana, Monarca and San Juan Nepomuceno. She was soon completely dismasted (the only British ship which suffered that fate), unable to manœuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the British ships behind her in the column came to her rescue. With 33 dead and 93 wounded, she was then towed to Gibraltar after the battle by the frigate HMS Naiad.
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Wikipedia