Valiant class ship of the line

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Class overview

Name:	Valiant
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	None
Succeeded by:	Mars-class
In service:	10 August 1759 - 1850
Completed:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Ship of the line
Length:	172 ft (52.4 m) (gundeck) 139 ft (42.4 m) (keel)
Beam:	49 ft 8 in (15.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 30 × 24 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 9 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs
Notes:	Ships in class include: Valiant, Triumph

The Valiant-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates of the Royal Navy.

[edit] Design

The draught for the two Valiant-class ships was a copy of the lines of the captured French ship Invincible, which had been captured during the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. They were slightly longer than other British 74s of the time, and carried a significantly heavier armament (thirty 24 pdrs on their upper gun decks as opposed to the twenty-eight 18 pdrs found on the upper gun decks of all other British 74s at the time). The second of the two ships was launched in 1764, and there would not be another 'large' type 74 until the Mars-class, the first of which was launched in 1794.