French frigate Président
History | |
---|---|
France | |
Name | Minerve |
Ordered | 25 January 1801 |
Builder | Nantes (Crucy company), plans by Forfait |
Laid down | September 1802 |
Launched | 4 June 1804 |
Commissioned | 20 July 1804 |
Out of service | 28 September 1806 |
Renamed | Président |
United Kingdom | |
Name | President |
Acquired | by capture September 1806 |
Renamed | Piemontaise |
Honours and awards | Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java"[1] |
Fate | Broken up 1815 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Frigate |
Tons burthen | 1148 bm |
Length | 46 metres (151 ft) |
Beam | 12 metres (39 ft) |
Draught | 7 metres (23 ft) |
Complement | 330 men |
Armament |
|
Armour | Timber |
Président was a 40-gun
French service
Originally ordered under the name Minerve, the frigate was renamed as Président on 24 December 1803.
She took part in L'Hermite's expedition, which led to her capture. Before she was captured, on 6 January 1806 she helped capture the 16-gun sloop HMS Favourite.
Capture
In June 1806, Captain Thomas George Shortland took command of HMS Canopus. She was the flagship for a squadron under Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Louis. On 27 September, they fell in with Président, Capt. Gallier Labrosse, south of the Isles of Scilly, near Belle Île. Président had been sailing with the ship of the line Régulus, frigate Cybèle and corvette Surveillant, but had separated from them on 20 August.
Louis's squadron had sailed to the
The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS President (dropping the accent over the 'e' in her name). The frigate's design was much admired and she served as the model for a number of later frigates, notably the Seringapatam class in the Royal Navy.[2]
Cruising
In December 1807, she was commissioned under the command of Captain Adam Mackenzie, sailing for South America on 7 May 1808 after completion conversion for British service at Plymouth. Mackenzie commanded her until 1810, apart from a brief period in 1809, when Captain Charles Schomberg temporarily commanded her off Brazil while Mackenzie temporarily commanded Bedford.
In 1810 Captain
Returning to the UK in late 1812 or early 1813, President then served from May 1813 in the Irish Sea, first under Captain Francis Mason, then from April 1814 under Captain Archibald Duff.
On 21 March 1814, President was in company with the brig-sloop Bacchus and the gun-brig Constant off Finisterre as they escorted a fleet from Cork to Portugal.[4]
Fate
In August 1815, the Royal Navy renamed her HMS Piedmontaise but broke her up in December of that same year.
Post script
President was the model for three later British 44-gun frigates:
Citations
- ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 244.
- ^ a b James (1837) Vol. 4, pp. 265–6.
- ^ James (1837), vol.VI, pp. 38–9.
- ^ Lloyd's List. Accessed 13 December 2016.
References
- James, William (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. R. Bentley.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 – 1870. p. 360. OCLC 165892922.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nd ed.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.