French frigate Minerve (1794)

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For other ships of the same name, see French ship Minerve.

Fight of Tremendous (in the foreground) against the French frigate La Cannonière (ex-Minerve) and another frigate, 21 April 1806, by Pierre-Julien Gilbert
Career (France)
Name: Minerve
Builder: Toulon
Laid down: January 1792
Launched: 5 September 1794
Captured: 23 June 1795 by the Royal Navy
Career (United Kingdom)
Name: HMS Minerve
Acquired: 23 June 1795
Captured: 3 July 1803 by the French Navy
Career (France)
Name: Minerve
Acquired: 3 July 1803
Renamed:

Canonnière in August 1806

Confiance in June 1809
Captured: 3 February 1810 by the Royal Navy
Career (United Kingdom)
Name: HMS Confiance
Acquired: 3 February 1810
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 700 tonnes
Length: 48.4 metres
Beam: 12.2 metres
Draught: 5.6 metres
Armament:

28 18-pounders, 12 8-pounders

later 28 18-pounders, 16 32-pound carronades and 6 6-pounders

The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy

Her keel was laid in January 1792, and she was launched in 1794. She took part in combat off Noli. On the 23 June 1795, she was captured by the frigates HMS Dido and Lowestoff, and commissioned in the Royal Navy.

In July 1803, she ran aground near Cherbourg while under the command of Jahleel Brenton. Attempts were made to refloat her, but as the ship was being fired upon by shore batteries and the gunboats Chiffonne and Terrible, Brenton eventually surrendered. Minerve was taken back into French service, being renamed Canonnière.

In 1806, she was based in Île de France (now Mauritius). She took part in various cruises, and in the Battle of Grand Port. She captured HMS Laurel off the Île de France, as well as HMS Discovery.

She was sold at Mauritius in 1809 to be used as a commerce ship, and renamed Confiance. She was re-captured by HMS Valiant the next year and again commissioned in the Royal Navy.

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