French ship Provence (1763)

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

The Provence was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the Estates of Provence.

History
France
Name	Provence
Namesake	Estates of Provence
Builder	Toulon
Laid down	May 1762
Launched	29 April 1763
In service	June 1763
Out of service	1785
Fate	Broken up 1786
Notes	Offered by the Estates of Provence
General characteristics
Displacement	1150 tonnes
Length	59.7 metres
Beam	13.2 metres
Draught	6.9 metres
Propulsion	Sail, full-rigged ship
Complement	556 men
Armament	64 guns
Armour	Timber

Career

Ordered as Union in February 1762, the ship was renamed Provence on 17 March, and begun in May on plans by engineer Gauthier.

After an uneventful career, she was decommissioned in February 1769, but reactivated in April of the next year and commissioned under Captain Moriès-Castellet. She was appointed to a three-ship squadron under Rafélis de Broves and departed Toulon on 16 May, bound for Tunisia, where she blockaded the harbours of Sousse and Bizerte, and took part in the bombardment of the cities in late June.^[1][2]

In 1776, Provence was under Chef d'Escadre Abon and served as flagship of one of the three division in the Escadre d'évolution.^[3]

In 1778, she took part in the naval operations in the American Revolutionary War under Captain Desmichel-Champorcin. She took part in the Battle of Grenada, where Desmichel-Champorcin was killed. In December 1779, she had returned to Brest, where she was decommissioned.

On 2 May 1780,^[4] she departed Brest with the 7-ship and 3-frigate Expédition Particulière under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the Continental Army in the War of American Independence. The squadron comprised the 80-gun Duc de Bourgogne, under Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and Médine (flag captain); the 74-gun Neptune, under Sochet Des Touches, and Conquérant, under La Grandière; and the 64-gun Provence under Lombard, Ardent under Bernard de Marigny, Jason under La Clocheterie and Éveillé under Le Gardeur de Tilly, and the frigates Surveillante under Villeneuve Cillart, Amazone under La Pérouse, and Bellone.^[5] Amazone, which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at Boston on 11 June 1780.^[6]

Between 1783 and 1785, she sailed as a merchantman for the Compagnie de Chine, before being struck in Rochefort and broken up in 1786.

Citations

1. Coustillière, Jean-François. "LE BOMBARDEMENT DE PORTO FARINA ET DE BIZERTE". Retrieved 27 May 2020.
2. Coustillière, Jean-François. "LE BOMBARDEMENT DE PORTO FARINA ET DE BIZERTE". Retrieved 27 May 2020.
3. Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 80-81.
4. Roche (2005), p. 159.
5. Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 645.
6. Monaque (2000), p. 38.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. OCLC 763372623.
• Monaque, Rémi (2000). Les aventures de Louis-René de Latouche-Tréville, compagnon de La Fayette et commandant de l'Hermione (in French). Paris: SPM.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. pp. 325–6. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.