Argonaute-class ship of the line

The Argonaute class was a class of two 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor François-Guillaume Clairin-Deslauriers. The design was lengthened by 4feet 9½ inches (4½ pieds) from the designer's previous Scipion class, which had been found to lack stability. The designer died on 10 October 1780, and the construction of these ships was completed by Jean-Denis Chevillard, who was appointed his successor as ingénieur-constructeur en chef at that dockyard in July 1781.^[1]

Class overview
Name	Argonaute
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Scipion class
Completed	2[1]
General characteristics
Class & type	Argonaute class
Displacement	1,500 tonnes[2]
Length	55.22 m (181 ft 2 in)
Beam	14.29 m (46 ft 11 in)
Draught	7.39 m (24 ft 3 in)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	74 guns[1] comprising: Lower deck ("1st tier") 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper deck ("2nd tier") 30 × 18-pounder long guns Gaillards ("3rd tier") 16 × 8-pounder long guns

Ships

• Argonaute^[2]

Builder: Rochefort Dockyard

Ordered: June 1779

Begun: August 1779

Launched: 5 June 1781

Completed: December 1781

Fate: Cut down (raséed) to a 'heavy' frigate 1793-94 and renamed Flibustier; disarmed in December 1795 and later taken to pieces.

• Brave ^[3]

Builder: Lorient Dockyard

Ordered: June 1779

Begun: October 1779

Launched: 6 June 1781

Completed: November 1781

Fate: Cut down (raséed) to a 'heavy' frigate 1793-94 (but not renamed); reduced to a hulk at Brest in January 1798, and later taken to pieces.