Leon Trionfante-class ship of the line

The Leon Trionfante class were a class of at least fourteen 70-gun third-rate ships of the line^{[N 2]} built by the Venetian Arsenale from 1716 to 1785, in four different series with minor changes in the ships' length. In 1797, when Venice fell to the French, Napoleon captured several ships of the class, still unfinished in the Arsenal: he chose one of them, forced the shipbuilders to have it completed and added it to his fleet en route for Egypt. After Campoformio, the remaining vessels were destroyed by the French to avoid their capture by the Austrian Empire.^[2]

Reconstruction of a building plan of the Leon Trionfante, modern image based on 18th century images.[1]
Class overview
Name	Leon Trionfante ("Triumphant Lion")
Builders	Arsenal of Venice
Operators	Venetian Navy  French Navy
Preceded by	Corona class
Succeeded by	San Carlo Borromeo class
In service	1716 - 1797
Completed	15
Lost	4
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Length	43.11 m (141 ft 5 in) (124 Venetian feet)
Draft	6.43 m (21 ft 1 in) (18.5 Ven. ft)
Depth	12.85 m (42 ft 2 in) (37 Ven. ft)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	70 guns:[N 1] Gundeck: 28 × 40-pounders Upper gundeck: 28 × 20-pounders Quarterdeck: 10 × 14-pounders Forecastle: 4 × 14-pounders

Design and history

The class was conceived and began construction during the Seventh Ottoman-Venetian War, with the lead ship, Leon Trionfante, laid down on 7 March 1716 and being commissioned on 2 May of the same year.^[3] The ship was large for its armament: with a keel length of 43.2 metres (142 ft) it rivalled the British 100-gun first-rate HMS Royal William, although with a width of 13.4 metres (44 ft), it was almost 2 metres (6.6 ft) narrower than the Royal William.^[4]

Almost all the ships of this class were planned and started before 1739, completed to a 70%, then stored in the roofed shipbuilding docks of the Arsenal of Venice to be finished and launched when the Venetian Navy need them, a solution the British Royal Navy adopted only in 1810, when the docks at Chatham were covered.

This decision, mostly due to the chronic lack of funds of the Republic of Venice in its final years, led to retain in service older and inferior ships than the ones built at the same time for the British Royal Navy and the French Royal Navy. Moreover, contemporary third rates had heavier guns (32-pounders on the gun deck and 18-pounders on the upper gun deck), even if the armament of those ships could be brought up to 72-74 guns. Except for the Leon Trionfante and the Diligenza, none of this class' ships remained in service for more than fifteen years.

Ships

Name	Designer	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate	Reference
Leon Trionfante	Unknown	Francesco De Ponti	1714[5]	16 May 1716	1716	Unknown	Dismantled, 1740	[6]
San Giacomo	Unknown	Unknown	1719[5]	29 April 1765	Unknown	Unknown	Dismantled, 1776	[7]

Bow view of a Leon Trionfante

• Buon Consiglio

Ordered: 1719

Launched: 1761

Fate: Broken up, 1776

• Fedeltà

Ordered: 1719

Launched: 1769

Fate: Broken up, 1783

• Forza

Ordered: 1719

Launched: 1774

Fate: Wrecked, 1784

Stern view of a Leon Trionfante

• Corriera Veneta

Ordered: 1722

Launched: 1770

Fate: Wrecked, 1771

• Diligenza

Ordered: 1724

Launched: 1774

Fate: Broken up, 1797

• Fenice

Ordered: 1723

Launched: 1779

Fate: Sunk, 1786

• Galatea

Ordered: 1722

Launched: 1779

Fate: Broken up, 1793

Sail plan of a Leon Trionfante-class ship in 1785. Print by Gianmaria Maffioletti, property of Museo Correr, Venice

• Vittoria

Ordered: 1732

Launched: 1784

Fate: Broken up, 1797

• La Guerriera

Ordered: 1732

Launched: 1785

Fate: Burnt, 1785

• Medea

Ordered: 1732

Launched: 1793

Fate: Captured, 1797

• Eolo

Ordered: 1739

Launched: 1782

Fate: Captured, 1797

• San Giorgio

Ordered: 1736

Launched: 1785

Fate: Captured, 1797

See also

• Venetian Navy
• Arsenal of Venice
• List of sailing ships in Venetian Navy
• Venetian bombardments of the Beylik of Tunis (1784–88)