French frigate Italienne (1806)

Italienne was a 40-gun Consolante-class frigate of the French Navy, built by engineer Denais after plans designed by Sané and revised by François Pestel.[2] Under Commander Jurien de La Gravière, she took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne, where she sustained very severe damage.[1]

History
France
Name: Italienne
Namesake: Italy
Ordered: 14 February 1803[1]
Builder: Ethéart company, Saint-Malo[1]
Laid down: March 1803 as Sultane[1]
Launched: 15 August 1806[1]
Out of service: 1810[1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Consolante-class 40-gun frigate
Displacement: 750 tonnes
Propulsion: Sail
Armament:
Armour: Timber

Career

Ordered on 14 February 1803 as Sultane, the ship was started in March of the same year.[1] In May, she was put on keel and renamed Italienne; the name had originally been intended for Topaze, by order of 10 May 1805, but Topaze had departed Nantes under Captain François-André Baudin before it could be carried out.[3]

Italienne was commissioned in Saint-Servan on 11 September 1806.[1]

In 1809, under Commodore Jurien de La Gravière, she was the flagship of a three-frigate squadron, along with Calypso and Cybèle. Trying to make junction with Willaumez' fleet in Brest, the squadron was intercepted by a British blockade squadron under Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford, comprising the ships of the line HMS Caesar, HMS Defiance and HMS Donegal, the frigate HMS Amelia, and the brig-sloop HMS Doterel. In the ensuing Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne, Italienne sustained extensive damage and was beached,[4], but managed to take shelter in Les Sables-d'Olonne harbour.[1]

Unable to effect heavy repairs, Italienne remained stranded in Les Sables-d'Olonne harbour in her battered state.[1] The Ministry intended to send her to Nantes for repairs, but this was never effected, and she was struck from the Navy lists in November 1813. In 1816, she was sold as a merchantman.[2]

Sources and references
  • Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 à 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-903179-30-1.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 262. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
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References
  1. Roche, vol. 1, p. 262
  2. Demerliac, p.86, n°609
  3. Roche, vol. 1, p. 441
  4. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (4333). 7 March 1809.


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