Seine-class frigate

The Seine class was a class of four 42-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. A fifth vessel, Furieuse, was originally ordered at Cherbourg in February 1794 to Forfait's Romaine-class design, but was instead completed to the design of the Seine class.

Hull of HMS Revolutionnaire
Class overview
Name	Seine
Builders	Le Havre (4); Cherbourg (1)
Operators	French Navy  Royal Navy
Preceded by	Minerve class
Succeeded by	Virginie class
Subclasses	Valeureuse class
Planned	6
Completed	7
General characteristics
Type	Frigate
Displacement	700 tonnes
Length	146 ft 4 in (44.60 m)
Beam	37 ft 2 in (11.33 m)
Depth of hold	18 ft (5.5 m)
Armament	42 guns:
Armour	Timber

The ship builder Charles-Henri Le Tellier produced a variant of the Forfait design after the latter went to Venice in 1797. Two further vessels, originally ordered as the final pair to the Seine design and begun to that design in July 1797, were completed to the variant design as the Valeureuse class, which were about 8 inches (20 cm) longer than earlier Seine-class vessels.^[1]

The vessels were originally designed to carry a main armament of 24-pounder guns, but in the event all were completed at Le Havre with 18-pounders.

Seine class

• Seine

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: May 1793

Launched: 19 December 1793

Completed: March 1794

Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 30 June 1798, becoming HMS Seine.

• Révolutionnaire

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: October 1793

Launched: 28 May 1794

Completed: July 1794

Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 21 October 1794, becoming HMS Revolutionnaire.

• Spartiate

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: May 1794

Launched: late November 1794

Completed: December 1794

Fate: Renamed La Pensée May 1795. Converted to a breakwater in November 1804, deleted 1832.

• Indienne

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: December 1794

Launched: 2 September 1796

Completed: October 1797

Fate: Burnt to avoid capture by the Royal Navy in April 1809.

• Furieuse

Builder: Cherbourg

Begun: March 1795

Launched: 22 September 1796

Completed: May 1798

Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 6 July 1809, becoming HMS Furieuse.

Valeureuse class

• Valeureuse^[1]

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: July 1797

Launched: 29 July 1798

Completed: March 1800

Fate: Sold in September 1806 at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania for breaking up following condemnation as irreparable at Philadelphia.

• Infatigable^[1]

Builder: Le Havre

Begun: July 1797

Launched: 6 April 1799

Completed: March 1800

Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 24 September 1806, becoming HMS Immortalité; never commissioned and sold in January 1811 at Plymouth for breaking up.