| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Serpente |
| Operators | |
| In commission | 1796–1816 |
| Completed | 4 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Retired | 3 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type | Corvette |
| Displacement | 727 ton (French) |
| Tons burthen | 350 (bm)[Note 1] |
| Length | 40.28 m (132 ft 2 in) (overall) |
| Beam | 9.745 m (31 ft 11.7 in) |
| Draught | 3.84 m (12 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 188 |
| Armament | 20 × 18-pounder long guns |
| Armour | Timber |
The Serpente class was a class of four 20-gun corvettes for the French Navy, designed by Charles-Henri Tellier as a follow-on to the Etna-class corvettes of the previous year.[2] Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract, with three being ordered at Honfleur in 1794 and a fourth at Le Havre across the Seine estuary in 1795. The vessels were flush-decked and designed to carry a battery of twenty 18-pounder guns.[2]
The Royal Navy captured one of the four vessels in the class, and burnt another in action.
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