The don des vaisseaux (lit. "gift of ships of the line") was a subscription effort launched by Étienne François de Choiseul, Duke of Choiseul and secretary of State to the Navy in 1761 as an effort to rebuild French naval power, diminished at the end of the Seven Years' War and in need for modernisation. Through this subscription, French provinces, cities, institutions or individuals contributed funds for the building of ships of the line, which were then named in their honour. The scheme raised 13 millions French livres and provided 18 ships, including two three-deckers, Ville de Paris and Bretagne.
The names of the ships were chosen to honour their patrons, either directly or by stating qualities with which the patrons wished to be associated. Some of the names became politically incompatible with the policies of the Convention nationale and were therefore changed in 1794; some of the new names became in turn politically unacceptable after the Thermidorian Reaction, yielding new renamings in 1795.
The success of the operation encouraged the French state to renew it on several dire occasions: from 1782 to 1790, and later again under the Revolution and the Empire.