French frigate Courageuse (1778)

History
France
Name: Courageuse
Builder: Rochefort [1]
Laid down: September 1777 [1]
Launched: 28 February 1778 [1]
In service: April 1778 [1]
Fate: Captured June 1799
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Courageuse
Acquired: By capture June 1799
Fate: Last listed 1803
General characteristics [1][2][3]
Class and type: Concorde class 12-pounder frigate
Displacement: 1,100 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 932 (bm)
Length:
  • 145 ft 0 in (44.20 m) (overall);
  • 121 ft 8 in (37.08 m) (keel)
Beam: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Draught: 4.38 m (14.4 ft) (unladen)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Complement: 255
Armament:

Courageuse was a 12-pounder Concorde class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1778. The British captured her in 1799 and thereafter used her as a receiving ship or prison hulk at Malta before breaking her up in 1802.

Career

In 1790, under Captain[Note 1] de Grasse-Briançon, Courageuse was part of the Toulon squadron under Vice-admiral de Poute de Nieuil.[4] From 2 August, she ferried troops and civil commissioners to Corsica, and cruised in the area before making a port call to Ajaccio and eventually returning to Toulon on 30 October.[5]

In 1792, under Captain de La Croix de Saint-Vallier, Courageuse sailed off Smyrna, Saloniki and Tripoli, returning to Smyrna on 6 December.[6] In January 1793, she escorted a convoy to Marseille, and from there returned to Toulon, arriving on 12 May.[7]

Courageuse took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver in the winter of 1794-1795,[8] under Captain Dalbarade.[9] She was part of the naval division under Rear-admiral Renaudin, which arrived in Toulon on 2 April 1795.[10]

In the summer of 1795, she was part of the station of the Gulf of Roses, under Lieutenant Pourquier,[11][12][Note 2] supporting the Army of the Pyrenees in the Siege of Roses.[13] On 9 July, she defended herself against a Spanish squadron,[14] composed of 16 gunboats, supported by three frigates and two ships of the line. Courageuse, supported by artillery fire from French-held forts, successfully fended off the attack.[13]

In the fleet of Toulon, Courageuse took part in the Mediterranean campaign of 1798; after the Battle of the Nile, she was armed en flûte and ferried supplies for the French Army in Egypt and Syria.[15]

Under Captain Trullet,[1] Courageuse was part of the Syrian naval station under Rear-admiral Perrée.[16] She ferried artillery and ammunition of the French Army besieging Acre; on 9 April 1799, she captured the British gunboat Foudre.[16]

HMS Centaur captured Courageuse in the Action of 18 June 1799.[16]

Fate

French sources report that Courageuse was used as a prison hulk for French prisoners at Port Mahon.[17]

British sources report that the British commissioned HMS Courageuse under Commander John Richards.[2] She served as a receiving or prison ship at Malta where she was broken up in 1802.[3]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. ↑ "Major de vaisseau"; Fonds Marine, p.22
  2. ↑ James' Naval History of Great Britain (vol.2 p.263) gives his first name as "Honoré".

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roche, p.131
  2. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p.209.
  3. 1 2 Winfield and Roberts (2015), p.124.
  4. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.22
  5. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.26
  6. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.33
  7. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.52
  8. ↑ Troude, vol.2, p.405
  9. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.121
  10. ↑ Troude, vol.2, p.408
  11. ↑ Roche, p.269
  12. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.132
  13. 1 2 Troude, vol.2, p.447
  14. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.136
  15. ↑ Troude, vol.3, p.94
  16. 1 2 3 Fonds Marine, p.229
  17. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.240

References

See also

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