 Portrait of Incorruptible by Olivier Colin.
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Romaine |
| Builders | Le Havre (3); Dieppe (2); Dunkirk (2); Lorient (2) |
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | Forte class |
| Succeeded by | Surveillante class |
| Completed | 9[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Frigate |
| Displacement | 700 tonnes[2] |
| Length | 45.5 m (149 ft 3 in)[3] |
| Beam | 11.8 m (38 ft 9 in)[3] |
| Draught | 5 m (16 ft 5 in)[3] |
| Complement | 250 men [3] |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Timber |
The Romaine class was a class of nine frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. They were originally designated as "bomb-frigates" (Fr. frégate-bombarde) and were intended to carry a main armament of twenty 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar mounted on a turntable in front of the mizzen mast. Experience quickly led to the mortars being removed (in most vessels they were never fitted), and the 24-pounders were replaced by 18-pounder guns. The ships also featured a shot furnace, but they proved impractical, dangerous to the ships themselves, and were later discarded.[4] A further eleven ships ordered to this design in 1794 were not built, or were completed to altered designs.
Two vessels of the class became breakwaters in less than 15 years after their construction. The British Royal Navy captured three. One was lost at sea. None had long active duty careers. All-in-all, these ships do not appear to have been successful with the initially intended armament, but proved of adequate performance once their heavy mortar was removed and their 24-pounders replaced with 18-pounder long guns.