Abeille-class brig
 1/36 scale model of Cygne, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Abeille |
| Operators | |
| In commission | 1800–1847[1] |
| Completed | 19[1] |
| Cancelled | 2[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 350 tonnes [3] |
| Length | 32 metres [3] |
| Beam | 8.7 metres [3] |
| Draught | 3.5 metres [3] |
| Sail plan | Brig, 750 m2 of sail |
| Complement | 84 men [3] |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Timber |
The Abeille class was a type of 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy, designed by François Pestel[4] with some units refined by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland.[3] They were armed with either 24-pounder carronades, or a mixture of light 6-pounder long guns and lighter carronades. Twenty-one ships of this type were built between 1801 and 1812, and served in the Napoleonic Wars.[3]
The four first ships were ordered in bulk on 24 December 1800, but two (Mouche and Serin) could not be completed due to shortages of timbers.[2][5] As the forerunner of the series,
Sylphe, which served as model for subsequent constructions.[3]
Ships
- Builder: Toulon [2]
- Begun: 24 December 1800[2]
- Launched:
- Completed:
- Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.[2]
- Builder: Toulon [6]
- Begun: 24 December 1800 [6]
- Launched: 24 June 1801 [6]
- Completed: 21 May 1801 [6]
- Fate: Hulked in 1844, renamed Molène and used as an achor depot in Brest in 1865 [6]
- Builder: Toulon [7]
- Begun: September 1801 [7]
- Launched: 24 December 1801 [7]
- Completed: 25 February 1802 [7]
- Fate: Captured by HMS Hydra on 27 February 1806 [7]
- Builder: Toulon [5]
- Begun: 1802
- Launched:
- Completed:
- Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.[5]
- Faune
- Builder: Nantes [8]
- Begun: 1803 [8]
- Launched: 8 July 1804 [8]
- Completed:
- Fate: Captured by HMS Goliath on 2 August 1805 and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Fawn[8]
- Builder: Caudan, Lorient [9]
- Begun: 15 June 1803 [9]
- Launched: 27 April 1804 [9]
- Completed: 13 July 1804 [9]
- Fate: Captured by HMS Niobe on 28 March 1806.[9]
- Sylphe
- Builder: Dunkerque [10]
- Begun: June 1803 [10]
- Launched: 10 July 1804 [10]
- Completed: 29 September 1804 [10]
- Fate: Captured by HMS Comet on 18 August 1808, commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Seagull [10]
- Builder: Genoa (Italy) [11]
- Begun: April 1805 [11]
- Launched: 18 August 1806 [11]
- Completed: 21 November 1806 [11]
- Fate: Broken up in 1823 [11]
- Builder: Le Havre Dockyard[12]
- Begun: 28 April 1806 [12]
- Launched: 12 September 1806 [12]
- Completed:
- Fate: Ran aground and scuttled by fire to avoid capture [12]
- Builder:
- Begun:
- Launched:
- Completed:
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- Completed:
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- Launched:
- Completed:
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- Begun:
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- Completed:
- Fate:
- Builder: Genoa Dockyard
- Begun: November 1808
- Launched: 12 May 1810
- Completed:
- Fate: Seized by the British in 1814 with the capitulation of Genoa
- Builder:
- Begun:
- Launched:
- Completed:
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- Builder:
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- Fate:
Citations
- ^ a b Roche, p.484
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.316
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Roche, p.379 (Requin)
- ^ MONOGRAPHIE DU CYGNE - Brick -1806 24-PDR BRIG LE CYGNE BY ENGINEER PESTEL 1806 -1808 MONOGRAPH Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Roche, p.412
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.17
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.217
- ^ a b c d Roche, p.194
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.323
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.428
- ^ a b c d e Roche, p.22
- ^ a b c d Roche, p.138
References
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. OCLC 165892922.