Bordelois-class ship of the line

The Bordelois class was a class of 56-gun ships of the line, designed by Antoine Groignard. This was a unique type, designed to provide a battlefleet armament (with 36-pounder guns in the principal battery) on a hull able to operate in the shallow waters around Dunkirk. The ships were funded by don des vaisseaux donations and rushed into production for the Seven Years' War, but were completed too late to take part in the conflict. The Flamand would later have a distinguished career during the War of American Independence.

Ships in class

 * FRENCH SHIP Bordelois
 * Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
 * Ordered: 3 November 1761
 * Laid down: August 1762
 * Laid down: July 1762
 * Launched: 26 April 1763
 * Completed: July 1763
 * Fate: Cut down into a frigate in 1779 and renamed Artois; captured by the Royal Navy on 1 July 1780, recommissioned as HMS Artois, then sold February 1786 to break up.


 * FRENCH SHIP Ferme
 * Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
 * Ordered: 3 November 1761
 * Laid down: August 1762
 * Launched: 10 October 1763
 * Completed: December 1763
 * Fate: Sold to the Ottoman Navy in August 1774


 * FRENCH SHIP Utile
 * Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
 * Ordered: 3 November 1761
 * Laid down: August 1762
 * Laid down: May 1763
 * Launched: 14 August 1764
 * Completed: December 1764
 * Fate: Condemned in December 1771 at Rochefort and hulked there by 1773.


 * FRENCH SHIP Flamand
 * Builder: Bordeaux shipyard
 * Ordered: 3 November 1761
 * Laid down: August 1762
 * Laid down: October 1763
 * Launched: 11 May 1765
 * Completed: July 1765
 * Fate: Condemned 1785-86 at Rochefort and struck.