The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.La frégate de 24. , Nicolas MIOQUE, Trois Ponts A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs.
Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns.
Vessels in class
Roche, p.385 Builder: Le Havre Begun: March 1794 Launched: 25 September 1794 Completed: December 1794 Fate: Condemned 1804.
Roche, p.250 Builder: Lorient Begun: May 1794 Launched: 7 January 1795 Completed: February 1795 Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 20 October 1798, becoming HMS Immortalite.
Builder: Lorient Begun: May 1794 Launched: 12 March 1795 Completed: May 1795 Fate: Wrecked off Cape Clear on 29 December 1796.
Roche, p.254 Builder: Dieppe Begun: March 1794 Launched: 20 May 1795 Completed: December 1795 Fate: Deleted 1815.
Roche, p.381 Builder: Dieppe Begun: March 1794 Launched: 31 August 1795 Completed: December 1795 Fate: Deleted 1818 or 1819.
Builder: Le Havre Begun: August 1794 Launched: 11 February 1796 Completed: January 1798 Fate: Captured by the British Navy in December 1805, but not added to the British Navy.
Roche, p.121 Builder: Le Havre Begun: September 1794 Launched: 11 March 1796 Completed: January 1798 Fate: Converted to a breakwater 1808, taken to pieces 1810.
Roche, p.147 Builder: Dunkirk Begun: February 1794 Launched: 23 April 1796 Completed: December 1798 Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 8 July 1800, becoming HMS Desiree.
Roche, p.359 Builder: Dunkirk Begun: February or April 1794 Launched: 24 May 1796 Completed: April 1798 Fate: Condemned 1805, made a breakwater 1806 or 1807.
Twenty ships of this type were originally included in the shipbuilding programme placed between October 1794 and April 1794, but several appear not to have been begun. Apart from the nine listed above, a tenth vessel, , was begun at Cherbourg in March 1795 to the same design but was completed as a vessel of Forfait's earlier . An eleventh, Pallas (originally named Première) was begun at Saint-Malo in November 1795 to a much modified design; a twelfth, Fatalité was also ordered in October 1793 at Saint-Malo, but was cancelled in 1796, as was a further vessel, Nouvelle, ordered in 1794 at Lorient. Another vessel, Guerrière, was begun at Cherbourg in 1796 to this design but was also completed to a modified design.
References Citations
Sources
Alain Demerliac, Nomenclature des navires francais de 1792-1799. Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817, Seaforth Publishing, 2007, . Rif Winfield and Stephen S. Roberts, French Warships in the Age of Sail, 1786-1861, Seaforth Publishing, 2015, .