French ship Souverain (1757)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Souverain.

Souverain was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

History
France
Name	Souverain
Namesake	"Sovereign"
Ordered	25 October 1755
Builder	Toulon
Laid down	December 1755
Launched	6 May 1757
In service	November 1757
Renamed	Peuple Souverain in September 1792
Captured	2 August 1798
Great Britain
Name	Guerrier
Acquired	12 August 1798
Fate	Guard ship, Broken up 1810
General characteristics
Class and type	Souverain-class ship of the line
Displacement	1536 tons (French)
Length	53.3 m (175 ft)
Beam	14.1 m (46 ft)
Draught	7.1 m (23 ft)
Propulsion	Sail
Armament	28 × 36-pounders 30 × 18-pounders 16 × 8-pounders
Armour	Timber

She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake, in 1781. In 1792, she was renamed Peuple Souverain ("Sovereign People").

In 1798, she took part in the battle of the Nile. A shot from HMS Orion (at the rear of the British line) cut her cable and she drifted out of position, later in the battle being captured by the British.

She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Guerrier, but was in too bad a shape to serve in the high sea, so she was used as a guard ship. She was broken up in 1810.

References

• Crowdy, Terry (2005). French Warship Crews 1789–1805: From the French Revolution to Trafalgar. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-745-X.
• Palmer, Michael A. (2005). Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control Since the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01681-5.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2017). French warships in the age of sail, 1626-1786: design, construction, careers and fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473893511.

External links

• HMS Guerrier Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine