French ship Cassard (1803)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Cassard.

Vétéran (sister-ship of Cassard) escaping into the shallow waters of Concarneau harbour. Painting by Michel Bouquet, on display at Brest Fine arts museum.
History
France
Name	Lion, Glorieux, Cassard
Namesake	Jacques Cassard
Ordered	May 1795
Builder	Brest
Laid down	26 August 1793
Launched	24 September 1803
Completed	December 1803
Commissioned	16 February 1804
Renamed	Glorieux, February 1798 Cassard, March 1798
Stricken	1815
Fate	Broken up, 1832
General characteristics
Class and type	Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement	2,966 tonnes 5,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length	56.47 metres (185.3 ft) (174 pied)
Beam	15.05 metres (49.4 ft)
Draught	7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion	Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament	74 guns: Lower gundeck: 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder long guns Forecastle and Quarter deck: 16 × 8-pounder long guns 4 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

Cassard was an improved Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Along with her sister-ship Vétéran, she carried 24-pounder long guns on her upper deck, a featured normally reserved for the larger, three-deckers capital ships or for 80-gun ships.

Completed as Lion, she took part in the Expédition d'Irlande in December 1796. On 24 February 1798, she was renamed to Glorieux, and eventually to Cassard the next month.

Under Commodore Gilbert-Amable Faure, she took part in the Atlantic campaign of 1806 in Willaumez' squadron, taking two prizes on the way. In August, the 1806 Great Coastal hurricane caused her to separate from the rest of the fleet; she returned to Brest on 13 October.

She took part in Willaumez' attempt to rescue blockaded ships from Lorient and anchored in Rochefort, where she took part in the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809. During the battle, she attempted to escape into Rochefort harbour, ran aground, and was refloated by throwing part of her guns overboard. She remained deactivated in Rochefort.

She was eventually condemned in May 1818, and used as a coal hulk in Rochefort, before being broken up in 1832.

See also

• List of ships of the line of France

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671–1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.