French ship Cassard (1846)
 Photograph of the imperial yacht Reine Hortense in 1856, by Gustave Le Gray | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
| |
| Name: | Cassard |
| Namesake: | Jacques Cassard |
| Builder: | Le Havre |
| Laid down: | September 1844 [1] |
| Launched: | 20 December 1846[1] |
| Out of service: | 8 April 1882[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1100 tonnes[1] |
| Length: | 62 metres[1] |
| Beam: | 10.8 metres[1] |
| Draught: | 5.7 metres[1] |
| Propulsion: | 1280 HP steam engine[1] |
| Armour: | Iron |
Cassard was a steam corvette of the French Navy. Built as an aviso, she served as the imperial yacht Reine Hortense from 1853.
Career
Laid down as Comte d'Eu, the ship was renamed to Patriote on 20 February 1848 after the French Revolution of 1848. In June 1853, she became the imperial yacht Reine Hortense.[1]
In 1855, she served as a troopship to ferry forces bound for the theatre of the Crimean War.[1]
Reine Hortense ferried Prince Napoléon Bonaparte from Marseille to Genoa in early 1859 for his marriage to Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoy, and Napoléon III from Marseille to Genoa on 11 and 12 May 1859. Returned to the French Navy in 1854, she was recommissionned as the imperial yacht on 20 April 1865 for an official visit in Algeria. She was again decommissioned in October.[1]
On 14 February 1867, she was renamed to Cassard, and commissioned for the Algiers station. She served there until 1881, when she was decommissioned in Toulon before becoming a littoral defence ship.[1]
Renamed to Faune in 1893, she was used as a hulk in Port-Vendre. She was eventually broken up in 1920.[1]