HMS Invincible (1747)

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Career France, Britain
Laid down:
Launched:
Out of service:	1758
Captured:	Captured by the Royal Navy in 1747
Status:	beached
General Characteristics
Displacement:
Length:
Beam:
Propulsion:	sail
Speed:
Complement:
Armament:	74 guns
Armour:	wood

L'Invincible was a 74-gun French ship of the line, late a third-rate of the Royal Navy.

At the First Battle of Cape Finisterre (May 14, 1747) during the War of the Austrian Succession, she was escorting a convoy of merchant ships when she was sighted by the British channel fleet of 16 ships of the line, which gave chase. L'Invincible attacked the British ships to give the convoy a chance to escape, and alone engaged six British warships. In the end with most of her crew dead or wounded she struck her colours. Gracious in defeat, the French Commander, Saint-Georges, handed his sword to Admiral George Anson.

During the early part of the 18th century British ship designers had made no significant advances in design, whereas French shipbuilding benefited from a remarkably creative period. At the time of the capture of L'Invincible, there was not one 74-gun ship in the Royal Navy. By 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar, three quarters of British ships of the line were of this singular design and the 74-gun ship became the backbone of all major navies of the world.

As HMS Invincible she was lost in 1758 when she hit a sandbank in the East Solent. The wrecksite was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 30 September 1980. In 1996 Amer Ved grounded at the wrecksite, although it is not clear whether or not this resulted in damage to the remains.