French ship Lune (1641)

For other ships with the same name, see Lune (ship).

The Lune was a 38-gun ship of the line of the French Royal Navy, the first ship of the line to be built at the new state dockyard at Île d'Indret near Nantes, designed by Deviot and constructed by the Dutch shipwright Jan Gron (usually called Jean de Werth in French). She and her sister Soleil were two-deckers, with a mixture of bronze guns on both gun decks.

History
France
Name	Lune
Namesake	The moon
Owner	French Royal Navy
Builder	"Jean de Werth" (real name Jan Gron), in Île d'Indret Dockyard
Laid down	1640
Launched	1641
Completed	1642
Fate	Sank 9 November 1664
General characteristics
Class and type	ship of the line
Tonnage	700 tons
Length	117 French feet
Beam	29½ French feet
Draught	13 French feet
Depth of hold	12 French feet
Decks	2 gun decks
Complement	275, +5 officers
Armament	38 guns: 4 × 18-pounder long guns + 18 × 12-pounder long guns on lower deck 10 × 8-pounder long guns + 6 × 7-pounder or 5-pounder long guns on upper deck
Armour	Timber

French ships of the line; la Lune, la Reine, and le Jupiter in 1654

The Lune took part in the Battle of Orbetello on 14 June 1646, as the flagship of Vice-amiral Louis Foucault de Saint-Germain-Beaupré, Comte de Daugnon, in the Battle of Castellammare on 21/22 December 1647, and in the Battle of Pertuis d'Antioche on 8 August 1652. She sailed on 9 November 1664 from Toulon for the Hyères Islands while carrying troops of the 1st Regiment of Picardy, but a half-hour after sailing she suddenly broke apart at the head and sank "like a marble", with only 60 survivors from over 600 aboard. The wreck of Lune was rediscovered by Paul-Henri Nargeolet on 15 May 1993.

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 de Louis XIII et de la régence d'Anne d'Autriche, 1610 a 1661. Alain Demerliac (Editions Omega, Nice – 2004).
• 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.
• Vaisseaux de Ligne Français de 1682 à 1780 1