French ship Scipion
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| Career |  -  |
|---|---|
| Built | Lorient 1799 - 1801 |
| Fate | Scrapped, January 1819 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1665 tonnes |
| Length: | 56.5 m |
| Width: | 14.3 m |
| Beam: | 7.1 m |
| Draught: | |
| Class: | 3rd rate |
| Speed: | |
| Complement: | |
| Armament: | 74 guns:
|
Scipion was a 74-gun French ship of the line, built by engineer Caro in Lorient from 1799 to 1801. She was one of the ships of Vice Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Dumanoir commanded the six ship vanguard of the French fleet, with Formidable, Scipion, Duguay-Trouin, Mont-Blanc, Intrépide and Neptune. Nelson's attacks left these ships downwind of the main confrontation and Dumanoir did not immediately obey Villeneuve's orders to return to the battle. When the ships did turn back, most of them only exchanged a few shots before retiring.
On 3 November 1805, British Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, with Caesar, Hero, Courageux, Namur and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the squadron. Scipion was taken by the HMS Phoenix and HMS Révolutionnaire, and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Scipion.
[edit] Royal Navy service
Scipion was based in Plymouth until 1811. She then became the flagship of Rear Admiral Hon. R. Stopford. His fleet, consisting of four sail of the line, thirteen frigates, seven sloops and eight cruisers of the East India Company, captured the island of Java on September 18, 1811.
She then was based in the Mediterranean until 29 Oct 1814 when she was paid off at Portsmouth, decommissioned in 1816 and broken up in 1819.
