French ship Redoutable (1791)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Built | Brest, launched May 31, 1791 |
| Fate | Sunk, 22 October 1805 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,630 tons |
| Length: | 172 feet (keel 155 feet) |
| Width: | 44 feet 6in |
| Depth in hold: | 22 feet |
| Draught: | 21 feet |
| Note: | all the above dimensions are the design dimensions, quoted in French pieds (feet) |
| Class: | Third rate |
| Speed: | |
| Complement: | 13 officers + 690 men |
| Armament: | 74 guns:
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One of some 89 ships of 74 guns completed (another ten were started but never completed) to the draught of the prototype Temeraire (1782) designed by engineer Jacques-Noël Sané (the largest number of battleships ever built to one design), the Redoutable was laid down at Brest in January 1790, and launched as the Suffren on May 31, 1791. She was completed there in December 1792. Her crew took part in the mutiny of the vessels attached to the squadron of Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles.
She was subsequently renamed Redoutable on May 20, 1794. In March 1802, the Redoutable was the flagship of a squadron of 2 ships of the line and 4 frigates under Admiral Bouvet sent to reinforce Guadeloupe in 1802 and Santo Domingo in 1803.
At the Battle of Trafalgar, on October 21, 1805, she was commanded by capitaine de vaisseau Lucas. She was closely engaged by HMS Victory eventually striking to her.
Her crew fiercely engaged the Victory, causing much damage. The crew and soldiers of the Redoutable maintained a heavy fire on the quarterdeck with hand-grenades and small arms, and a French marksman mortally wounded Admiral Horatio Nelson from the mizzen fighting top.
The French crew were about to board the Victory when the HMS Temeraire intervened, firing on the exposed French crew at point blank range. At 1.55 p.m., the Redoutable, with Captain Lucas severely wounded, and only 99 men still fit out of 643, slowly sinking and with no hope of rescue, struck her colours.
The Victory had 160 casualties, and the Temeraire, 120. The Redoutable sank the next day.
See French ship Suffren and French ship Redoutable for other ships of this name.
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