Etna-class corvette

The Etna class was a class of six 16 or 18-gun corvettes with a flat hull, designed by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait and his pupil Charles-Henri Tellier. Four separate commercial shipbuilders were involved in their construction by contract - including André-François Normand, Courtois and Denise at Honfleur, and Fouache at Le Havre (two ships), while the sixth vessel was built by Pierre Ozanne at Cherbourg Dockyard. The vessels were flush-decked and originally designed to carry a 12-inch mortar. However, as the British navy captured Etna within a year and a half of her launch at which time she was not carrying any mortar, it is possible that the design was modified quite early to delete the mortar.

The Royal Navy captured three of the six vessels in the class. Three members of the class (including two in Royal Navy service), were lost to wrecking or grounding. Only one of the corvettes served for over 20 years.

Etna class (6 ships)

 * Etna
 * Builder: André François and Joseph-Augustin Normand, Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: April 1795
 * Completed: May 1795
 * Fate: Captured by HMS Melampus (1785) on 13 November 1796. Commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Aetna and later renamed HMS Cormorant. Wrecked off Egypt in May 1800.


 * Cérès
 * Builder: Jean Fouache, Le Havre
 * Begun: May 1794
 * Launched: May 1795
 * Completed: July 1795
 * Fate: Wrecked on the shores of Norway on 17 February 1798
 * Notes: Renamed from Courageuse in May 1795; may have been renamed in 1797 to Engant de la Patrie


 * Vésuve
 * Builder: Denise, Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: 7 August 1795
 * Completed: October 1795
 * Fate: Broken up in Rochefort August/September 1830
 * Notes: Fitted as a flûte between November 1802 and June 1803; refitted at Le Havre in February 1807 and reclassified as a 20-gun corvette; on 31 October 1815 her use as a headquarters hulk in place of Serpente was approved.


 * Étonnante
 * Builder: Fouache & Reine, Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1796
 * Launched: 27 August 1795
 * Completed: November 1796
 * Fate: Hulked in Brest in 1806


 * Mignonne
 * Builder: Cherbourg Dockyard; constructeurs: Pierre Ozanne and after March 1795 Jean-François Lafosse
 * Begun: 6 October 1794
 * Launched: 15 October 1795
 * Completed: April 1797
 * Fate: HMS Goliath captured Mignonne in June 1803 in the West Indies. Though the Royal Navy never commissioned her, she did serve briefly before she grounded in December 1804 and was condemned.


 * Torche
 * Builder: Courtois, Honfleur
 * Begun: June 1794
 * Launched: April 1795
 * Completed: May 1795
 * Fate: Captured in August 1805 by HMS Goliath and incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS Torch. She was never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.