Abeille-class brig

1/36th scale model of Cygne, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.
Class overview
Name: Abeille
Operators:
In commission: 1800 - 1847[1]
Completed: 19[1]
Cancelled: 2[2]
General characteristics
Displacement: 350 tonnes [3]
Length: 32 metres [3]
Beam: 8.7 metres [3]
Draught: 3.5 metres [3]
Sail plan: Brig, 750 m2 of sail
Complement: 84 men [3]
Armament:
  • 16 × 24-pounder carronades
  • or
    • 10 6-pounder long guns
  • 8 × 16-pounder carronades[3]
Armour: Timber

The Abeille class was a type of 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy, designed by François Pestel[4] with some units refined by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland.[3] They were armed with either 24-pounder carronades, or a mixture of light 6-pounder long guns and lighter carronades. 21 ships of this type were built between 1801 and 1812, and served in the Napoleonic Wars.[3]

The four first ships were ordered in bulk on 24 December 1800, but two (Mouche, Serin) could not be completed due to shortags of timbers.[2][5] As the forerunner of the series, Abeille, is not always identified as such in British sources, the type is sometimes referred to as the Sylphe class, after Sylphe, which served as model for subsequent constructions.[3]

Ships

Builder: Toulon [2]
Begun: 24 December 1800[2]
Launched:
Completed:
Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.[2]
Builder: Toulon [6]
Begun: 24 December 1800 [6]
Launched: 24 June 1801 [6]
Completed: 21 May 1801 [6]
Fate: Hulked in 1844, renamed Molène and used as an achor depot in Brest in 1865 [6]
Builder: Toulon [7]
Begun: September 1801 [7]
Launched: 24 December 1801 [7]
Completed: 25 February 1802 [7]
Fate: Captured by HMS Hydra on 27 February 1806 [7]
Builder: Toulon [5]
Begun: 1802
Launched:
Completed:
Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.[5]
Builder: Nantes [8]
Begun: 1803 [8]
Launched: 8 July 1804 [8]
Completed:
Fate: Captured by HMS Goliath on 2 August 1805 and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Fawn[8]
Builder: Caudan, Lorient [9]
Begun: 15 June 1804 [9]
Launched: 27 April 1804 [9]
Completed: 13 July 1804 [9]
Fate: Captured by HMS Niobe on 28 March 1806.[9]
Builder: Dunkerque [10]
Begun: June 1803 [10]
Launched: 10 July 1804 [10]
Completed: 29 September 1804 [10]
Fate: Captured by HMS Comet on 18 August 1808, commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Seagull [10]
Builder: Genoa (Italy) [11]
Begun: April 1805 [11]
Launched: 18 August 1806 [11]
Completed: 21 November 1806 [11]
Fate: Broken up in 1823 [11]
Builder: Le Havre Dockyard[12]
Begun: 28 April 1806 [12]
Launched: 12 September 1806 [12]
Completed:
Fate: Ran aground and scuttled by fire to avoid capture [12]
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Notes and References

Notes

    References

    1. 1 2 Roche, p.484
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.316
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Roche, p.379 (Requin)
    4. ↑ MONOGRAPHIE DU CYGNE - Brick -1806 24-PDR BRIG LE CYGNE BY ENGINEER PESTEL 1806 -1808 MONOGRAPH
    5. 1 2 3 Roche, p.412
    6. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.17
    7. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.217
    8. 1 2 3 4 Roche, p.194
    9. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.323
    10. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.428
    11. 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.22
    12. 1 2 3 4 Roche, p.138

    Bibliography

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