 Model showing characteristics and original painting scheme of Belle Poule.
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Surveillante |
| Operators |  French Navy |
| Preceded by | Romaine class |
| Succeeded by | |
| Completed | 9 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Surveillante-class frigate |
| Displacement | 2500 tonnes |
| Length | 54 metres (177 ft) |
| Beam | 14.10 metres (46.3 ft) |
| Draught | 3.80 metres (12.5 ft) |
| Propulsion | sail |
| Complement | 301 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Timber |
The Surveillante class was a type of sixty-gun frigate of the French Navy, designed in 1823 by Mathurin-François Boucher.[1]
One of the main innovations with respect to previous design was the disappearance of the gangways, which provided a flush deck capable of harbouring a complete second battery. With the standardisation on the 30-pounder calibre for all naval ordnance that occurred in the 1820s, this design allowed for a frigate throwing a 900-pound broadside, thrice the firepower of the 40-gun Pallas class that constituted the majority of the frigate forces during the Empire, and comparable to that of a 74-gun.
By far the best-known ship of the class is Belle Poule, which achieved fame when she transported the ashes of Napoléon back to France in the so-called Retour des cendres; for this occasion, she was painted all black, a colour scheme that she retained later in her career, but which is uncharacteristic of the ships of this type.
- Builder: Lorient
- Begun:
- Launched: 29 September 1825
- Completed:
- Fate: deleted 22 August 1844.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Begun:
- Launched: 28 June 1828
- Completed:
- Fate: renamed Indépendante 9 August 1830, deleted 24 October 1860.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Begun:
- Launched: 28 July 1828
- Completed:
- Fate: deleted 20 March 1845.
- Builder: Lorient
- Begun:
- Launched: 25 August 1828
- Completed:
- Fate: wrecked off Bermuda 3 December 1838.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Begun:
- Launched: 26 March 1834
- Completed:
- Fate: deleted 19 March 1861.
- Builder: Lorient
- Begun:
- Launched: 6 February 1841
- Completed:
- Fate: wrecked 16 February 1855 off Bonifacio.
- Builder: Lorient
- Begun:
- Launched: 8 March 1841
- Completed:
- Fate: deleted 17 August 1869.
- Builder: Cherbourg
- Begun:
- Launched: 16 September 1841
- Completed:
- Fate: deleted 23 October 1883.
- Builder: Lorient
- Begun:
- Launched: 15 August 1860
- Completed:
- Fate: hulked 23 October 1883