French ship Hercule (1815)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Hercule, French ship Provence, and French ship Alger.
The Provence during the invasion of Algiers in 1830, by Lebreton.
Career (France)
Name: Hercule
Namesake: Hercules
Builder: Toulon
Laid down: 5 November 1812, as Kremlin
Launched: 26 May 1815
Commissioned: August 1827
Renamed:
  • Provence, 9 April 1814
  • Hercule, 23 March 1815
  • Provence, 15 July 1815
  • Alger, 15 July 1830
Struck: 31 December 1855
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement:2,966 tonnes
5,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length:55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam:14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught:7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion:Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament:74 guns:
16 × 8-pounder long guns
4 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour:Timber

Hercule was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Her keel was laid down in Toulon in 1812 as Kremlin. During her construction, she was renamed Provence during the Bourbon Restoration, Hercule briefly during the Hundred Days, when she was launched, and back to Provence from July 1815.

She was commissioned after 12 years, in 1827, but sustained heavy damage when she collided with the Scipion which was returning from the Battle of Navarino, and had to return to Toulon for repairs.

After the "fan incident", she sailed for Algiers to attempt talks, arriving on 3 August 1829. In July 1830, she was the flagship of Vice-admiral Duperré for the Invasion of Algiers in 1830. On 17 July 1830, she was renamed Alger to celebrate the capitulation of the city.

In 1831, Alger took part in the Battle of the Tagus, under Captain Jacques Leblanc, and later in the Crimean war, bombarding Sevastopol.

From 1855, she was used as a hospital hulk, and was eventually broken up in 1881.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clouet, Alain (2007). "La marine de Napoléon III : classe Téméraire - caractéristiques". dossiersmarine.free.fr (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2013.