French ship Pacificateur (1811)

Not to be confused with French ship Pacificateur (1804).

The Pacificateur was a Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by Sané. She was the first ship to sustain damage from Paixhans shells, during test-firing of Paixhans' canon-obusiers.^[1]

The Robuste, sister ship of the Pacificateur
History
France
Name	Pacificateur
Namesake	Pacifier
Ordered	July 1807
Builder	Anvers, Belgium
Laid down	1808
Launched	1811
In service	22 May 1811
Stricken	1824
Fate	Condemned 1824
General characteristics
Class and type	Bucentaure-class ship of the line
Length	55.88 m (183.33 ft) (overall) 53.92 m (176.90 ft) (keel)
Beam	15.27 m (50.10 ft)
Depth of hold	7.63 m (25.03 ft)
Propulsion	Sail
Sail plan	2,683 m2 (28,879.57 sq ft)
Complement	866
Armament	80 guns 30 × 36-pounders 32 × 24-pounders 18 × 12-pounders 6 × 36-pounder howitzers

History

Commissioned in Antwerp in 1814, Pacificateur remained anchored at the entrance of the harbour to protect it until the Bourbon Restoration. In September 1814, she arrived in Brest, where she stayed until she was condemned, in 1824.

In January 1824, Pacificateur was used as a target ship to test new 22 cm canon-obusiers invented by Henri-Joseph Paixhans.^[2] The wooden sides of Pacificateur sustained devastating damage, starting the decline of wooden warships and rise of the ironclads.

References

1. Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Toulon: JMR. Jean-Michel Roche. p. 337. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6.
2. Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, Gilbert (1874). The Navy: A Letter to the Earl of Minto, G.C.B., First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty. Ridgway. p. 43. Retrieved 5 February 2021.