Hercule-class ship of the line

1/40th-scale model of the 100-gun Hercule on display at the Musée national de la Marine.
Class overview
Name	Hercule
Builders	Toulon, Brest
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Suffren class
Succeeded by	Napoléon class Algésiras class
Completed	13
Cancelled	2
General characteristics
Class and type	Hercule class
Displacement	4440 tonnes
Length	62.50 m (205 ft 1 in)
Beam	16.20 m (53 ft 2 in)
Draught	8.23 m (27 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	3,150 m2 (33,900 sq ft) of sails
Complement	955 men
Armament	100 guns, including: 32 × long 30-pounders (lower deck) 30 × short 30-pounders (middle deck) 30 × 30-pounder carronades (upper deck) 4 × long 18-pounders (upper deck)
Armour	Timber

The Hercule class was a late type of 100-gun ships of the line of the French Navy. They were the second strongest of four ranks of ships of the line designed by the Commission de Paris. While the first units were classical straight-walled ships of the line, next ones were gradually converted to steam, and the last one was built with an engine.

Design

The Hercule class evolved as an enlargement of the straight-walled, 90-gun Suffren class, suggested by Jean Tupinier.

With the Henri IV, a rounded stern was introduced. The next ships were built with the rounded stern, and it was retrofitted on the early units of the class.

Units

• Hercule (1836)

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• Jemmapes (1840)

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• Tage

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• Henri IV

Builder:Cherbourg

Begun:1829

Launched:1848

Completed:1850

Fate: Bombardment of Odessa (1854). Lost in a storm at Eupatoria in the Crimea (14.11.1854)

• Austerlitz

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• Fleurus

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1/75th-scale model of Prince Jérôme, on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport. She was transformed into a sail and steam ship of the line while on keel.

• Annibal, renamed Prince Jérôme

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• Dugay Trouin

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• Turenne

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• Ulm, Lys renamed 1830

Builder:Rochefort

Begun:1825

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Fate: Bombardment at Kinburn (1855)

• Wagram, Bucentaure renamed 1839

Builder:Lorient

Begun:1833

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Fate: Bombardment at Kinburn (1855)

• Navarin

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• Eylau

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Notes and references

Bibliography

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.