French ship Lune (1641)

The Lune was a 38-gun ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the first ship of the line to be built at the new state dockyard at Île d'Indret near Nantes, designed by Deviot and constructed by the Dutch shipwright Jan Gron (usually called Jean de Werth in French). She and her sister Soleil were two-deckers, with a mixture of bronze guns on both gun decks.

French ships of the line; la Lune, la Reine, and le Jupiter in 1654
For other ships with the same name, see Lune (ship).
History
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameLune
NamesakeThe moon
OwnerFrench Royal Navy
Builder"Jean de Werth" (real name Jan Gron), in Île d'Indret Dockyard
Laid down1640
Launched1641
Completed1642
FateSank 9 November 1664
General characteristics
Class and typeship of the line
Tonnage700 tons
Length117 French feet[lower-alpha 1]
Beam29½ French feet
Draught13 French feet
Depth of hold12 French feet
Decks2 gun decks
Complement275, +5 officers
Armament
ArmourTimber

The Lune took part in the Battle of Orbitello on 14 June 1646, as the flagship of Vice-amiral Louis Foucault de Saint-Germain-Beaupré, Comte de Daugnon, in the Battle of Castellammare on 21/22 December 1647, and in the Battle of Pertuis d'Antioche on 8 August 1652. She sailed on 9 November 1664 from Toulon for the Hyères Islands while carrying troops of the 1st Regiment of Picardy, but a half-hour after sailing she suddenly broke apart at the head and sank "like a marble", with only 60 survivors from over 600 aboard. The wreck of Lune was rediscovered by Paul-Henri Nargeolet on 15 May 1993.

Notes
  1. The (pre-metric) French foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent English foot.

References
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 223. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Nomenclature des Vaisseaux de Louis XIII et de la régence d'Anne d'Autriche, 1610 a 1661. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – 2004).
  • The Sun King's Vessels (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE. ISBN 978-2903179885
  • Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
  • Vaisseaux de Ligne Français de 1682 à 1780 1


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.