Le Révolutionnaire

Posted by F.F. on Tuesday 24th of March 2026 00:40

I like to show how measurements according to British criteria were different from those considered by European shipwrights. La Révolutionnaire is as an example of such differences:

According to the British Navy:
Lenght of gun deck:
157' 2" ≈ 47,90 ｍ
Beam, outside planking:
40' 5½" ≈ 12,33 ｍ
Depth of hold:
12' 6" ≈ 3,81 ｍ
Burthen:
1148 tons (bm)

French measurements:
Longueur (lenght):
146 pieds 4 pouces ≈ 47,53 ｍ ≈ 155' 11½"
Largeur hors membrures (beam excluding outside planking):
37 pieds 2 pouces ≈ 12,07 ｍ ≈ 39' 7⅓"
Creux (depth to deck):
18 pieds ≈ 5,85 ｍ ≈ 19' 2⅕"
Déplacement (displacement):
1311 tonneaux de poids ≈ 1288ｔ (SI) ≈ 1,267 long tons
Jauge (burthen, as measured in France):
1041 tonneaux d'arrimage

Deadweight for French frigates bearing 18-pounders was then to be 718 tonneaux de poids ≈ 703ｔ (SI) ≈ 707 long tons. Deadweight was the most commonly considered datum in the French Navy in the ⅹⅷᵗʰ and ⅹⅸᵗʰ centuries.

Posted by F.F. on Monday 23rd of March 2026 23:58

A mistake in the title of that page: it is not le Révolutionnaire, which was a first rate three-decker of 110 guns, formerly la Bretagne, launched in 1766, renamed in 1793, damaged in 1795 and brocken up in 1796; displacement: nearly 4670ｔ (SI); burthen, as measured in the British Navy: 2546 tons (bm). It is the frigate la Révolutionnaire, launched in 1794 (see Pierre Le Conte, Répertoire des navires de guerre français, Cherbourg, 1932, p. 135), mounting 18-pounders. According to British sources:
38 guns
Lenght of gun deck: 157' 2"
Beam, outside planking: 40' 5½"
Depth of hold: 12' 6"
Burthen: 1148 tons
In the British Navy, she was said to be among the best sailers, second to another prize only: la Pomone, another French frigate, 40 guns, 1239 tons (bm), which sistership built in England, the Endymion launched in 1797, was to be the fastest British sailer of the whole age of sail (up to 14.4 knots).

Posted by Gilles COGNARD on Thursday 5th of February 2026 12:27

Mon ancêtre était marin sur LE REVOLUTIONNAIRE.
Il a été fait prisonnier et est décédé à BUSDOCK le 17/01/1795