French ship Sceptre (1691)

The Sceptre was a First Rank ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the lead vessel in the two-ship Sceptre Class (her sister being the Lys).

History
Kingdom of France
Name: Sceptre
Ordered: 30 April 1691
Builder: François Coulomb, Toulon Dockyard
Laid down: 3 May 1691
Launched: 10 November 1691
Completed: March 1692
Out of service: 18 December 1717
Fate: Taken to pieces by order of 12 January 1718
General characteristics
Tonnage: 1,800
Length: 153 French feet[1]
Beam: 44 French feet
Draught: 23 French feet
Depth of hold: 20¼ French feet
Decks: 3 gun decks
Complement: 650 (500 in peacetime), + 12 officers
Armament: 84 guns

This ship was ordered in April 1691 to be built at Toulon Dockyard, and on 13 May she was allotted the name Sceptre. The designer and builder of both ships was François Coulomb. They were three-decker ships without forecastles. The Sceptre was launched on 10 November 1691 and completed in March of the next year.

She was initially armed with 84 guns, comprising twenty-six 36-pounders on the lower deck, twenty-eight 18-pounders on the middle deck, twenty-four 8-pounders on the upper deck, and six 4-pounders on the quarterdeck. The 4-pounders were replaced by six 6-pounders by 1699; a thirteenth pair of 8-pounders (on the upper deck) and a fourth pair of 6-pounders (on the quarterdeck) were added in 1704, raising her to 88 guns.

The Sceptre took part in the capture of Cartagena de Indias in May 1697, and later in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga on 24 August 1703. She was scuttled at Toulon in July 1707 during the siege of that port, but was subsequently refloated. She was condemned at Toulon on 18 December 1717, and on 12 January 1718 she was ordered to be taken to pieces.

References
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 223. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Nomenclature des Vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 a 1715. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – various dates).
  • The Sun King's Vessels (2015) - Jean-Claude Lemineur; English translation by François Fougerat. Editions ANCRE. ISBN 978-2903179885
  • Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2017) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
  1. The French foot (pre-metric) was 6.575% longer than the equivalent English foot.
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