Bordelois-class ship of the line

The Bordelois class was a class of 56-gun ships of the line, designed by Antoine Groignard. This was a unique type, designed to provide a battlefleet armament (with 36-pounder guns in the principal battery) on a hull able to operate in the shallow waters around Dunkirk. The ships were funded by don des vaisseaux donations and rushed into production for the Seven Years' War, but were completed too late to take part in the conflict. The Flamand would later have a distinguished career during the War of American Independence.

Watercolour portrait of Flamand, by François Roux, commissioned by Willaumez
Class overview
Name	Bordelois
Builders	Bordeaux[1]
Operators	French Navy  Royal Navy  Ottoman Navy
Planned	4
Completed	4
General characteristics
Displacement	1100 tonnes[1]
Length	50.7 metres[1]
Beam	13.75 metres[1]
Draught	6.3 metres[1]
Propulsion	Sail, full-rigged ship
Complement	560 men in war,[1] 500 in peace
Armament	56 guns: Main deck: 24 × 36-pounder long guns Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder long guns Forecastle and sterncastle: 6 × 8-pounder long guns[1]
Armour	Timber

Ships in class

^[2]

• Bordelois

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard

Ordered: 3 November 1761

Laid down: August 1762

Laid down: July 1762

Launched: 26 April 1763

Completed: July 1763

Fate: Cut down into a frigate in 1779 and renamed Artois; captured by the Royal Navy on 1 July 1780, recommissioned as HMS Artois, then sold February 1786 to break up.

• Ferme

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard

Ordered: 3 November 1761

Laid down: August 1762

Launched: 10 October 1763

Completed: December 1763

Fate: Sold to the Ottoman Navy in August 1774

• Utile

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard

Ordered: 3 November 1761

Laid down: August 1762

Laid down: May 1763

Launched: 14 August 1764

Completed: December 1764

Fate: Condemned in December 1771 at Rochefort and hulked there by 1773.

• Flamand

Builder: Bordeaux shipyard

Ordered: 3 November 1761

Laid down: August 1762

Laid down: October 1763

Launched: 11 May 1765

Completed: July 1765

Fate: Condemned 1785-86 at Rochefort and struck.