French ship Breslaw (1808)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Breslaw.

Breslaw was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Scale model of Achille, sister ship of French ship Breslaw (1808), on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.
History
France
Name	Breslaw
Namesake	Wrocław
Ordered	24 October 1804 [1]
Builder	Genoa[1]
Laid down	February 1805 [1]
Launched	3 May 1808 [1]
Decommissioned	1837 [1]
Fate	Broken up
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement	2,966 tonnes 5,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length	55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam	14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught	7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion	Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament	74 guns: Lower gundeck: 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder long guns Forecastle and Quarter deck: 6 × 8-pounder long guns 10 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

Career

Ordered as Superbe, the ship took her name of Breslaw on 14 May 1807, to commemorate the capture of the city of Wrocław by Jérôme Bonaparte on 7 January. She was commissioned on 9 August 1808 under Captain Joseph Allemand^[3] and appointed to the Toulon squadron.^[1] She departed Genoa for Toulon on 20 January 1809, along with the corvette Victorieuse; the ships crossed safely, arriving on 26, but collided off the harbour.^[1][4]

Refitted in 1824, Breslaw later took part in the Battle of Navarino, on 20 October 1827.^[1] She played a decisive role in the battle when her captain, La Bretonnière, took the initiative of leaving the French squadron, which had safely completed its objectives, to reinforce HMS Albion, which was trapped and in danger of being overwhelmed by the Ottoman fleet.^[5]

Breslaw took part in the Invasion of Algiers in 1830 under Captain Maillard de Liscourt, notably landing troops at Sidi Ferruch on 16 June.^[1]

Refitted again in 1831, Breslaw was struck in 1837.^[1]

Citations

1. Roche, vol.1, p.84
2. Clouet, Alain (2007). "La marine de Napoléon III : classe Téméraire - caractéristiques". dossiersmarine.free.fr. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
3. Quintin, p.37
4. Roche, vol.1, p.463
5. Woodhouse (1965), p. 120

References

• Quintin, Danielle; Quintin, Bernard (2003). Dictionnaire des capitaines de Vaisseau de Napoléon (in French). S.P.M. p. 37. ISBN 2-901952-42-9.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 84. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Woodhouse, Christopher Montague (1965), The Battle of Navarino