Minerve class frigate
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Minerve |
| Builders: | Toulon |
| Operators: | |
| Preceded by: | Nymphe class |
| Succeeded by: | Seine class |
| Planned: | 6 |
| Completed: | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Sail plan: | Ship-rigged |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | Timber |
The Minerve class was a type of 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, carrying 18-pounder long guns as their main armament. Six ships of this type were built at Toulon Dockyard, and launched between 1782 and 1794. The frigates served the French Navy briefly during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured all six between 1793 and 1799 and took them into service, with all but one serving in the Napoleonic Wars, and some thereafter.
The first four frigates were built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. Jacques Brune Sainte Catherine modified Coulomb's design for the fifth, lengthening it to permit the addition of a 14th pair of gunports on the upper deck. Catherine further redesigned the class for the sixth, final frigate. The French Navy preferred the designs by Jacques-Noël Sané. However, the more rounded hull form of the Minerve-class vessels' found favour with the Royal Navy, leading it to copy the design.
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