Surveillante-class frigate
Model showing characteristics and original painting scheme of Belle Poule.
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Surveillante |
| Operators: |
 French Navy
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| Preceded by: | Romaine class |
| Succeeded by: | |
| Completed: | 9 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Surveillante-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 2500 tonnes |
| Length: | 54 metres (177 ft) |
| Beam: | 14.10 metres (46.3 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.80 metres (12.5 ft) |
| Propulsion: | sail |
| Complement: | 300 |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Timber |
The Surveillante class was a type of sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed in 1823 by Mathurin-François Boucher.
One of the main innovations with respect to previous design was the disappearance of the gangways, which provided a flush deck capable of harbouring a complete second battery. With the standardisation on the 30-pounder calibre for all naval ordnance that occurred in the 1820s, this design allowed for a frigate throwing a 900-pound broadside, thrice the firepower of the 40-gun Pallas class that constituted the majority of the frigate forces during the Empire, and comparable to that of a 74-gun.
By far the best-known ship of the class is Belle Poule, which achieved fame when she transported the ashes of Napoléon back to France in the so-called Retour des cendres; for this occasion, she was painted all black, a colour scheme that she retained later in her career, but which is uncharacteristic of the ships of this type.
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Wikipedia