Pégase-class ship of the line

The Pégase class was a class of 74-gun ships of the French Navy, built to a common design by naval constructor Antoine Groignard. It comprised six ships, all ordered during 1781 and all named on 13 July 1781.

The name-ship of the class - Pégase - was captured by the British Navy just two months after her completion; the other five ships were all at Toulon in August 1793 when that port was handed over by French Royalists to the occupying Anglo-Spanish forces, and they were seized by the British Navy. When French Republican forces forced the evacuation of the Allies in December, the Puissant was sailed to England (and - like the Pégase - was used as a harbour hulk there until the end of the Napoleonic Wars), and the Liberté (ex-Dictateur) and Suffisant were destroyed during the evacuation of the port; the remaining pair were recovered by the French Navy - see their respective individual histories below.

Ships

 * Pégase
 * Builder: Brest Dockyard
 * Ordered: June 1781
 * Begun: June 1781
 * Launched: 5 October 1781
 * Completed: February 1782
 * Fate: Captured by HMS Foudroyant in the Bay of Biscay on 21 April 1782 (with 80 men of her crew killed); renamed HMS Pegase; hulked 1794 at Plymouth, until broken up in 1815.


 * Puissant
 * Builder: Lorient Dockyard
 * Ordered: 13 July 1781
 * Begun: August 1781
 * Launched: 13 March 1782
 * Completed: June 1782
 * Fate: Surrendered to the British by her Royalist crew during the Siege of Toulon on 29 August 1793; removed to England at the evacuation of the city; became a hulk in Portsmouth 1796; broken up in 1816.


 * Dictateur
 * Builder: Toulon Dockyard
 * Ordered: 13 July 1781
 * Begun: July 1781
 * Launched: 16 February 1782
 * Completed: August 1782
 * Fate: Renamed Liberté on 29 September 1792. Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon on 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1808.


 * Suffisant
 * Builder: Toulon Dockyard
 * Ordered: 13 July 1781
 * Begun: July 1781
 * Launched: 6 March 1782
 * Completed: August 1782
 * Fate: Burnt at the end of the Siege of Toulon 18 December 1793. Raised in 1805 and scrapped in 1806.


 * Alcide
 * Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
 * Ordered: 13 July 1781
 * Begun: July 1781
 * Launched: 25 May 1782
 * Completed: January 1783
 * Fate: Burnt during the Battle of Hyères Islands on 18 July 1795 by her own heated shots, and exploded.


 * Censeur
 * Builder: Rochefort Dockyard
 * Ordered: 13 July 1781
 * Begun: August 1781
 * Launched: 24 July 1782
 * Completed: October 1783
 * Fate: Captured by the British at the Battle of Cape Noli 14 March 1795; retaken in the action of 7 October 1795 by de Richery's squadron off Cape St Vincent; sold at Cadiz to Spain in June 1799 in exchange for the Spanish San Sebastián.