Galathée-class frigate

Galathée, drawn in 1781 by François Aimé Louis Dumoulin
Class overview
Name	Galathée
Builders	Rochefort and Bordeaux
Operators	French Navy Royal Navy
Completed	6
General characteristics
Class and type	Galathée class frigate, 44 guns
Tons burthen	600 tonnes
Length	44.5 m (146 ft)
Beam	12.2 m (40 ft)
Depth of hold	5.5 m (18 ft)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	32 guns, later upgraded to 44

The Galathée class was a type of 32-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran, with 26 × 12-pounder and 6 × 6-pounder guns. six units were built in all, seeing service during the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, and later in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured and took into service five of the six, the sixth being wrecked early in the French Revolutionary Wars.

• Galathée

Builder: Rochefort

Ordered:

Launched: 1779

Fate: wrecked in 1795

• Railleuse

Builder: Bordeaux

Ordered:

Launched: 1779

Fate: sold as a privateer and captured in 1804 by the Royal Navy. Taken into British service as HMS Antigua.

• Fleur de Lys

Builder: Rochefort

Ordered:

Launched: 1785

Fate: renamed to Pique, captured by the Royal Navy and taken into British service as HMS Pique in 1796

• Charente Inférieure

Builder: Rochefort

Ordered:

Launched: 1793

Fate: renamed Tribune in February 1794, captured by British Navy in 1796 and taken into British service as HMS Tribune, being wrecked the next year

• Républicaine française

Builder: Bordeaux

Ordered:

Launched: 1794

Fate: renamed Renommée in 1795; captured by British Navy in 1796, becoming HMS Renommee. Broken up 1810

• Décade Française

Builder: Pierre Guibert, Bordeaux

Ordered:

Launched: 1794

Fate: Renamed Décade in 1795; captured by British navy in 1798, becoming HMS Decade. Sold 1811

References

• Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042