HMS Surprise (1796)
Contemporary plans of HMS Surprise
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| History | |
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  France
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| Name: | Unité |
| Builder: |
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| Laid down: | August 1793 |
| Launched: | 16 January 1794 |
| Commissioned: | April 1794 |
| Captured: |
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  United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Surprise |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Fate: | Sold at Deptford in February 1802 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Unité-class corvette |
| Displacement: | 657 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 350 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 31 ft 8 in (9.65 m) |
| Draught: | 14 ft 0 in (4.27 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 172 (peace) & 220 (war) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Surprise was the name the Royal Navy gave to the French Navy's corvette Unité after her capture in 1796. Launched on 16 February 1794, the ship gained fame in 1799 for the recapture of HMS Hermione, and in 1802 was sold out of the service.
Pierre-Alexandre Forfait designed Unité, the name ship for her class of corvette. Although the French initially rated Unité as a corvette, the ships of her class bridged a gap between smaller warships and frigates, and at various times were rated as frigates.
On 20 March 1794, lieutenant de vaisseau Jean le Drézénec, who was 41 years old and had entered the naval service soon after the revolution from a career in the merchant service, arrived to take command of Unité. He supervised the fitting out of the ship, and found the long guns were too large to be easily reloaded, and the lower sails were also too large. He notified the authorities, who urged him to finish fitting out the ship because a major naval operation was imminent. Soon afterwards, Unité took part in the battle of the Glorious First of June by escorting the dismasted Révolutionnaire as she was towed by the Audacieux.
In June 1794 Unité completed repairs in Saint-Malo and Brest to damage she had sustained in the battle. In the following months she escorted merchant vessels along the coasts of France. On 28 September, with the corvette Bergere and under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Gouley, the two ships left Brest to sail northwest in between Ireland and the islands of the Hebrides and St Kilda to intercept enemy merchant ships. On 17 October, the ships captured a 200-ton merchant ship Dianne. The next day the weather turned foul and the two ships were separated. Unwilling or unable to continue the mission alone, Unité searched for Bergere fruitlessly for sixteen days before finally returning to Brest on 1 November.
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Wikipedia