French frigate Africaine (1798)

Africaine
History
France
NameAfricaine
NamesakeAfrica
BuilderRochefort
Laid downMarch 1795
Launched3 January 1798
CommissionedMay 1798
Captured19 February 1801
United Kingdom
NameAfricaine
AcquiredCaptured, 19 February 1801
FateBroken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and typePreneuse-class frigate
Displacement720 tonnes
Length47.8 m (157 ft)
Beam11.9 m (39 ft)
Draught5.8 m (19 ft)
PropulsionSail
Armament
ArmourTimber

Africaine was one of two 40-gun Preneuse-class frigates of the French Navy built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She carried twenty-eight 18-pounder and twelve 8-pounder guns. The British captured her in 1801, only to have the French recapture her in 1810. They abandoned her at sea as she had been demasted and badly damaged, with the result that the British recaptured her the next day. She was broken up in 1816.

  1. ^ Roche (2005), p. 24.