French ship Lune (1641) (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ship of the line of the French Navy (1641-1664)

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

History
French Navy EnsignFrance
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[a]
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

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.

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.

  1. ^ The (pre-metric) French foot was 6.575% longer than the equivalent English foot.