Citoyen-class ship of the line

Class overview
Name	Citoyen
Builders	Joseph-Louis Ollivier, Brest
Operators	French Navy
Completed	4
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Tonnage	1500 tonnes
Displacement	3000 tonnes
Length	169½ French feet (55.06 metres)
Beam	43 French feet (13.97 metres)
Draught	21 French feet (6.82 metres)
Depth of hold	20¾ French feet (6.74 metres)
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	715 men in wartime, 650 men in peacetime; + 6/12 officers
Armament	74 guns:; Lower battery: 28 × 36-pounders ; Upper battery: 30 × 18-pounders ; Forecastle and quarterdeck: 16 × 8-pounders ;
Armour	Timber
Notes	Ships in class include: Citoyen, Conquérant, Palmier, Actif

Last updated June 28, 2023

The Citoyen class consisted of four 74-gun ships of the line all built at Brest Naval Dockyard to a design by Joseph-Louis Ollivier. The first ship (Citoyen, originally to have been named Cimeterre) was newly built there from 1761 to 1764, and the other three were rebuilt to her design from earlier ships.

Citoyen

Built at: Brest

Keel laid: July 1761

Launched: 27 August 1764

Completed: December 1764

Fate: decommissioned in 1783 and taken to pieces in 1792

Conquérant

Originally built at: Toulon

Ordered: 5 March 1743

Originally launched: 9 March 1746

Rebuilt: from January 1765 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched 29 November 1765 and completed in December 1765

Fate: Condemned in May 1796 but put back into service in March 1798, captured by the British on 2 August 1798 at the Battle of the Nile, broken up in Plymouth in January 1803

Palmier

Originally built at: Brest

Keel laid: November 1750

Originally launched 21 July 1752

Rebuilt: from 23 May 1766 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched in December 1766 and completed in the same month

Fate: Rebuilt again at Brest in 1776. Abandoned and foundered off Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean on 24 October 1782

Actif

Originally built at: Brest (as a 64-gun ship)

Keel laid: 1750

Originally launched: 15 December 1752

Rebuilt at: from April 1767 at Brest to the draught of the Citoyen, re-launched on 5 October 1767 and completed in April 1768

Fate: Rebuilt again at Brest in 1774. Condemned in August 1783, sold 1784

Sources and references

Demerliac, Alain (1995). La Marine de Louis XV - Nomenclature des navires francais de 1715 à 1774. pp. 39–41. ISBN 2-906381-19-5.
Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S., French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing, 2017) ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.

↑ Note that the French (pre-metric) foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent British unit of measurement of the same name.
↑ Note that the French (pre-metric) pound was about 7.9% heavier than the equivalent British unit of measurement of the same name. Thus the French 36-pounder equated to about 38 lb 13.6 oz in British measurement.

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[1] Note that the French (pre-metric) foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent British unit of measurement of the same name.

[2] Note that the French (pre-metric) pound was about 7.9% heavier than the equivalent British unit of measurement of the same name. Thus the French 36-pounder equated to about 38 lb 13.6 oz in British measurement.

[1]

[2]