The
ship of the line was
laid down at
Brest in January 1789, and
launched as
Suffren on 31 May 1791. She was the first ship of the
French Navy named in honour of Vice-admiral
Suffren de Saint Tropez, who had died a hero of the
American War of Independence on 8 December 1788. She was completed there in December 1792. In September, the crews of the fleet revolted in the
Quibéron mutinies, including the crew of
Suffren. In retaliation,
Suffren was renamed
Redoutable on 20 May 1795. In December, she took part in the
Croisière du Grand Hiver under Captain
Pierre Augustin Moncousu; upon departure, she broke her cables, but unlike the ill-fated
Républicain, she managed to reach the open sea, followed by the
frigate . However, the damage sustained in the incident forced her to cancel her departure, and she returned to Brest. In February 1795, the
Suffren was the flagship of a division under
Counter-admiral Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec within the fleet of Brest, under
Villaret-Joyeuse. The ship was renamed
Redoutable on 20 May 1795. Still under Captain Moncousu and with Commander
César-Joseph Bourayne as first officer, she took part in the
Battle of Groix on 23 June 1795, where her poor sailing properties compelled the frigate , under Captain
Jacques Bergeret, to take her in tow. During the battle, she was one of the few ships of observe Villaret-Joyeuse's orders to support
Alexandre. Later, along with
Tigre, she attempted to support
Formidable, but to no avail as
Formidables tops caught fire and she ceased all resistance to save herself, eventually striking her colours. After the battle, she sailed back to
Port-Louis, by then promoted to counter admiral, and was the first French ship to reach
Bantry Bay, In the night of 22 to 23 December, she accidentally collided with
Nielly's flagship, the frigate , dismasting her of her
bowsprit,
foremast, and
mizzen; only her
mainmast stayed upright. the 74-gun took
Résolue in tow and returned with her to Brest, where they arrived on 30 December;
Redoutable eventually limped back to Brest, where she arrived on 5 January 1797,
Service in the Caribbean In March 1802, the
Redoutable was the flagship of a squadron of two ships of the line and four frigates under Admiral
François Joseph Bouvet sent to reinforce
Guadeloupe in 1802 and in the
Saint-Domingue expedition in 1803, departing on 9 January from
Ajaccio with troops and arriving on 4 February. was part of a naval division under Counter-admiral
Jacques Bedout, based in Saint-Domingue. The division was composed of the 74-gun as flagship, with Captain Bourdé as Bedout's
flag officer; the 74-guns
Redoutable and , under Captain
Pierre-Paulin Gourrège; the frigate
Vertu, under Commander
Antoine-Marie-François Montalan; and the corvettes , under Commander Gallier-Labrosse, and , under Lieutenant Descorches. with Lieutenant
Jean Dupotet as first officer.
Redoutable was the third ship behind the flagship in the French line, coming behind
Esprit-Tranquille Maistral's and José Quevedo's . When
Neptune and
San Leandro dropped behind
Bucentaure, exposing her stern,
Redoutable rushed to cover her and prevent Vice Admiral
Horatio Nelson's from cutting the Franco-Spanish line of battle. and ended up running afoul of her. A furious, fifteen-minute musket duel erupted between the two ships; the crew of
Redoutable had been especially trained by Lucas for such an occasion, and soon the heavy
hand grenade and small-arms fire on
Victorys quarterdeck mortally wounded Vice Admiral Nelson. Soon, took a position at stern of
Redoutable,
Redoutables aft featured a large opening and was in danger of collapsing, her rudder was shot off, and the hull was pierced in many spots. Being much damaged and weakened by the fight themselves, the British ships took some time to take possession of
Redoutable, and Lucas had to request urgent assistance to pump water, as four of
Redoutables pumps were destroyed and few of her crewmen could man them.
Redoutable was freed from the rigging of
Temeraire around 7 in the evening The next day,
Redoutable made distress signals, and
Swiftsure launched boats to evacuate her passengers; she foundered around 7, taking 196 men with her. Lucas reported:
Victory had sustained 160 casualties, and
Temeraire 120. Of
Redoutables crew, 169 were taken on board
Swiftsure; the wounded were sent to Cadiz on a
cartel, and 35 men were taken prisoner to England. ==Notes==