Le Soleil Royal

Posted by F.F. on Friday 7th of February 2025 17:20

Wikipedia, about le Soleil-Royal:
«Displacement
1,630 tonnes
Length
61 m (200 ft)
Beam
15.64 m (51.3 ft)
Draught
7.64 m (25.1 ft)
[…]
Complement
836
Armament
104 guns:
[…]
She was recommissioned with 112 guns and 1200 men when the Nine Years' War broke out in 1688 as the flagship of the escadre du Ponant (squadron of the West).»

Her complement was also said to be of 1200 in a list of Dassié's Architecture navale (first edition I know of : 1672), but in the abridged lists of the French Navy, from which Dassié's list obviously derived, from 1669 to 1692 complement always ranged between 800 and 900, plus 8 or 9 officers. And it was given as 900 either in 1688 and in 1689 (with 108 guns), plus nine officers; in 1690: 850 (plus nine officers) with 108 guns; in 1691 and 1692, 900 (plus nine officers), also with 110 guns.

Dimensions in French sources I know of are:
• lenght of gun deck,
164 ½ pieds ≈ 53.44 ｍ ≈ 175' 3⅘"
• keel (total lenght lying on the ground, different from keel for tonnage in the British Navy):
142 pieds ≈ 46.13 ｍ ≈ 151' 4"
• beam (inside planking, unlike beam measured in England):
44 ½ pieds ≈ 14.46 ｍ ≈ 47' 5⅛"
• depth to deck (always larger than depth of hold found in British sources):
21 pieds ≈ 6.82 ｍ ≈ 22' 4⅗"
• draught of water, aft:
23 ¼ pr 23 ½ pieds ≈ 7.55 or 7.63 ｍ ≈ 24' 9⅓" or 25' 0⅚".

These dimensions compare to those of le Monarque, a 74-gun two-decker drawn by Blaise Ollivier and launched, like her two sisterships, in 1747 in Brest. Le Monarque was taken by the English that same year. According to Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau, her dimensions were:
• lenght, 165 pieds ≈ 53.60 ｍ ≈ 175' 10⅙"
• beam (inside planking), 43 pieds ≈ 13.97 ｍ ≈ 45' 9.9"
• depth to deck, 20 ½ pieds ≈ 6.66 ｍ ≈ 21' 10⅙".
• Her displacement was 73459.459 pieds-cubes (French cubic feet) of sea water ≈ 2581ｔ (SI).
• Draught of water, aft: 21 pieds ≈ 6.82 ｍ ≈ 22' 4⅗".
With the same size, 74s mounting 24-pounders on their upper-decks, according to Duhamel du Monceau, had a displacement larger by some 200ｔ (SI). Le Soleil-Royal could not have a lesser displacement, being somewhat larger, drawing 23 ¼ or 23 ½ feet water instead of 21, having a no less heavy artillery, more men (800 or 900 versus less than 700) on board and for them provisions for 4 or 4 ½ months versus 4 ½ months on le Monarque's hold, so her displacement was seemingly between 2800 and 3000ｔ (SI).

In the British Navy, le Monarque / the Monarch's dimensions were: 174' 10" (149' 10") × 47' 2½" × 20' 1½" ≈ 53.29 ｍ (45.67 ｍ) × 14.39 ｍ × 6.13 ｍ; burthen: 1776 tons. From those data about a French second rate first order ship of the line (say, a third rate) of the mid ⅹⅷᵗʰ century, it is possible to infer that in the British Navy, le Soleil-Royal, a French first rate of the late ⅹⅶᵗʰ century, with her thicker planking would have had the following measurements: lenght of gun deck, 53.44 ｍ ≈ 175' 3⅘"; beam (outside planking), 14.94 ｍ ≈ 49' 0¼"; depth of hold, ≈ 6.3 ｍ ≈ 20' 8"; burthen, some 1900 tons.

She was Tourville's flagship at Beachy Head, in 1690, and at Barfleur, in 1692. In the first of these battles, Torrington's flagship was the Royal Sovereign, whose dimensions were, according to wikipedia, after her 1685 rebuilt:
167' 9" × 48' 4" × 19' 4"
≈ 51.13 ｍ × 14.73 ｍ × 5.89 ｍ
burthen, 1683 tons
In the second of these battles, Russell's flagship was the Britannia launched in 1682, whose dimensions were (still from wikipedia):
167' 5" × 47' 4" × 17' 2½"
≈ 51.03 ｍ × 14.43 ｍ × 5.25 ｍ
burthen, 1621 tons