Leon Trionfante-class ship of the line

The Leon Trionfante-class were a class of at least fourteen 70-gun third rate ships of the line[N 2] built by the Venetian Arsenale from 1716 to 1785, in four different series with minor changes in the ships' length. In 1797, when Venice fell to the French, Napoleon captured several ships of the class, still unfinished in the Arsenal: he chose one of them, forced the shipbuilders to have it completed and added it to his fleet en route for Egypt. After Campoformio, the remaining vessels were destroyed by the French to avoid their capture by the Austrian Empire.[1]

Class overview
Name: Leon Trionfante ("Triumphant Lion")
Builders: Arsenal of Venice
Operators:
Preceded by: Corona-class
Succeeded by: San Carlo Borromeo-class
In service: 1716 - 1797
Completed: 15
Lost: 4
General characteristics
Type: Ship of the line
Length: 43,11 m (124 Venetian feet)
Draft: 6,43 m (18,5 Ven. ft)
Depth: 12,85 m (37 Ven. ft)
Propulsion: Sails
Armament:
  • 70 guns[N 1]:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 40-pounders
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 20-pounders
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 14-pounders
  • Forecastle: 4 × 14-pounders

Design and history

Almost all the ships of this class were planned and started before 1739, completed to a 70%, then stored in the roofed shipbuilding docks of the Arsenale to be finished and launched when the Venetian Navy need them, a solution the British Royal Navy adopted only in 1810, when the docks at Chatham were covered.

This decision, mostly due to the chronic lack of funds of the Republic of Venice in its final years, led to the maintenance in service of older and inferior ships than the ones built at the same time for the British Royal Navy and the French Royal Navy. Moreover, contemporary third rates had heavier guns (32-pounders on the gun deck and 18-pounders on the upper gun deck), even if the armament of those ships could be brought up to 72-74 guns. Excepting the Leon Trionfante and the Diligenza, none of this class' ships remained in service for more than fifteen years.

Ships
Name Designer Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate Reference
Leon TrionfanteUnknownFrancesco De Ponti1714[2]16 May 17161716UnknownDismantled, 1740[3]
San GiacomoUnknownUnknown1719[2]29 April 1765UnknownUnknownDismantled, 1776[4]
  • Buon Consiglio
Ordered: 1719
Launched: 1761
Fate: Broken up, 1776
  • Fedeltà
Ordered: 1719
Launched: 1769
Fate: Broken up, 1783
  • Forza
Ordered: 1719
Launched: 1774
Fate: Wrecked, 1784
  • Corriera Veneta
Ordered: 1722
Launched: 1770
Fate: Wrecked, 1771
  • Diligenza
Ordered: 1724
Launched: 1774
Fate: Broken up, 1797
  • Fenice
Ordered: 1723
Launched: 1779
Fate: Sunk, 1786
  • Galatea
Ordered: 1722
Launched: 1779
Fate: Broken up, 1793
  • Vittoria
Ordered: 1732
Launched: 1784
Fate: Broken up, 1797
  • La Guerriera
Ordered: 1732
Launched: 1785
Fate: Burnt, 1785
  • Medea
Ordered: 1732
Launched: 1793
Fate: Captured, 1797
  • Eolo
Ordered: 1739
Launched: 1782
Fate: Captured, 1797
  • San Giorgio
Ordered: 1736
Launched: 1785
Fate: Captured, 1797
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See also
  • Venetian Navy
  • Arsenal of Venice
  • List of sailing ships in Venetian Navy
  • Venetian bombardments of the Beylik of Tunis (1784–88)

References

Notes
  1. The guns reported as the main armament of this class' ships are in the Venetian scale, that use the libbra sottile (0,301 kg).
  2. Even if by contemporary British practice these 70-gun ships should be rated as third rates, for the Venetian Navy the Leon Trionfante-class were first rate vessels. This different classification dated back to the previous century, but Venice never changed it for prestige issues.

Citations
  1. Levi 1896, p. 41.
  2. "Ships 1667-1797". felipe.mbnet.fi. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  3. Venetian Third Rate ship of the line 'Leon Trionfante'.
  4. Venetian Third Rate ship of the line 'San Giacomo'.

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