French frigate Bellone (1778)

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Battle between Bellone and HMS Foudroyant
Fight between Bellone and HMS Foudroyant at the Battle of Tory Island
History
French Navy Ensign French Navy Ensign French Navy EnsignFrance
Name: Bellone
Namesake: Bellona
Builder: Saint Malo
Laid down: January 1778
Launched: 22 August 1778
Commissioned: February 1779
Captured: 12 October 1798
United Kingdom
Name: Proserpine
Acquired: 12 October 1798
Fate:
General characteristics
Class & type: Iphigénie-class frigate
Displacement: 1,150 tons (French)
Length: 44.2 m (145 ft)
Beam: 11.2 m (37 ft)
Draught: 4.9 m (16 ft)
Propulsion: Sail
Armament:
  • 32 guns:[1]
  • UD: 28 × 18-pounder long guns
  • Spardeck:4 × 6-pounder long guns

Bellone was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was one of the French ships with a copper-covered hull.

French service

In 1782, she fought against HMS Coventry. In June she captured a British "both", in the roads of Negapatnam that the French took into service as Negapatnam. The next month Negapatnam was at Pondicherry with the French squadron under Admiral Suffren, but her subsequent disposition is unknown.[2]

Bellone took part in the Glorious First of June and in the Expédition d'Irlande.

Capture and fate

She was captured on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island by HMS Melampus [3] and HMS Ethalion,[4] and was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Proserpine. Although officially 'under repair' at Plymouth, she was never more than a hulk, and in 1806 she was broken up.[5]

Citations

  1. The number of guns was reported to be 36 or even 40. Study of the wreck confirms that the Bellone had 32.
  2. Demerliac (1996), p.127, #911.
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References

  • Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3

External links