French ship Soleil (1642)

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

History
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameSoleil
NamesakeThe sun
OwnerFrench Royal Navy
Builder"Jean de Werth" (real name Jan Gron), in Île d'Indret Dockyard
Laid down1640
Launched1642
Completed1643
FateSold to break up in August 1672
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 Soleil took part in the Battle of Orbitello on 14 June 1646, as the flagship of Chef d'escadre Marquis de Montigny, and in the Battle of Castellammare on 21/22 December 1647. By 1671 she had been re-armed with 22 x 12-pounders on the lower deck and 14 x 8-pounders on the upper deck. She was renamed Hercule on 24 June 1671, then quickly renamed Marquis 23 days later. She was condemned on 28 June 1672 and sold in August to be taken to pieces.

Notess
  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


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