French Frigate Hermione (1779) Ships Bio

[Cpt Kangaroo]

L'Hermione (1779)

French Navy 1779 –
Built in Rochefort
Guns : 32
Men: 255
Theatres of war :
American War of Independence -
Transported General La Fayette to Boston April 1780
Action of 7 June 1780 against the 32-gun HMS Iris (indecisive)
Hosted the American congress in board May 1781
Action of Louisbourg on 21 July 1781
Returned to France in February 1782
India -
Sent to India to help Suffren against the British 1784
Returned to Rochefort in April 1784
Returned to service against the British September 1793


Construction and Career:
The Hermione was a 12-pounder Concorde class frigate of the French Navy. She became famous when she ferried General Lafayette to the United States in 1780 to allow him to rejoin the American side in the American Revolutionary War.

Hermione was built in eleven months at Rochefort, by the shipwright Henri Chevillard as a light (French: légère) frigate, fast and maneuverable. Between May and December 1779 she underwent successful sea trials in the Gulf of Gascony under the command of Lieutenant de Latouche.

General La Fayette embarked at Rochefort on 11 March 1780 and arrived in Boston on 28 April carrying the then-secret news that he had secured French reinforcements (5,500 men and 5 frigates) for Washington. She got underway again on 2 June and suffered serious damage in the fierce but indecisive Action of 7 June 1780 against the 32-gun HMS Iris, under James Hawker.

Hermione received the American Congress on board in May 1781. She fought several times in company with the Astrée, commanded by Lapérouse, especially at the Naval battle of Louisbourg on 21 July 1781.

After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Hermione returned to France in February 1782. She then formed part of a squadron sent to India to help Suffren against the British. However peace was declared and the ship returned to Rochefort in April 1784.

She was again in service against the British, on 20 September 1793,

FATE:
She grounded in 1793, off Croisic, and was then wrecked by heavy seas. The court-martial consecutive to the wreck found her pilot, Guillaume Guillemin du Conquet, responsible for her loss; her commanding officer, Captain Martin, was honourably acquitted.

Reconstruction:
In 1997 a reconstruction project started in Rochefort. The new ship is also named Hermione.

Hermione at the battle of Louisbourg 1781


Hermione at the battle of Louisbourg 1781

[Cpt Kangaroo]

For those interested in the rebuild project, here is the site.

http://www.hermione.com/en/home/

This was a very attractive paint scheme!

[Cpt Kangaroo]

STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Attachment 6434

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Last one

[Comte de Brueys]

Nice.

The rebuild it under the King of France's colours.

I think the crown and the white flag with fleur-de-lis of the Bourbons wer removed during the French Revolution.