Pictured: a built model of this ship — not the historical vessel.

Le Superbe

Type

Ship of the Line

Period

18th Century

Nation

France

Overview: Superbe was a 74-gun Téméraire-class ship of the line built for the French Navy during the 1780s. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, whose talent as a naval architect was praised by contemporaries in France and Britain alike, and she was regarded as one of the finest French warships of her generation. Specifications: The Téméraire-class ships had a length of 55.87 metres (183 ft 4 in), a beam of 14.46 metres (47 ft 5 in) and a depth of hold of 7.15 metres (23 ft 5 in). The ships displaced 3,069 tonneaux and had a mean draught of 7.15 metres (23 ft 5 in). They had a tonnage of 1,537 port tonneaux. Their crew numbered 705 officers and ratings during wartime. Her armament comprised 28 x 36-pounder long guns on the lower deck and 30 x 18-pounder long guns on the upper deck, with a mix of 8-pounder long guns and 36-pounder carronades on the forecastle and quarterdeck, and her hull was copper-sheathed, a detail of interest to modelers replicating her below-waterline finish. Service History: Completed in 1785, she played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars, and the ship sank due to a leak near Brest in 1795 during the Croisière du Grand Hiver. She had joined Admiral Villaret-Joyeuse's fleet, serving during a period of major fleet actions against the Royal Navy. During the disastrous winter campaign, Superbe suffered the same fate as other ships in the squadron: she had started to take in water, Captain Colomb warned Villaret that his ship was sinking, and efforts to pump out water could not compensate for the leakage even after throwing the artillery overboard, so Villaret ordered the ship abandoned; Montagne, Montagnard and Papillon rescued the crew, but 21 men were lost. Notable Facts: She was lost alongside two larger French ships during the same winter cruise; the order of battle records Neuf Thermidor, an 80-gun ship, was also lost on 29 January, one day before Superbe herself went down. Her designer Sané went on to shape decades of French ship-of-the-line design, and the Channel Islands Maritime Museum notes that other ships designed by Sané include the well-known Le Fouguex, 74 guns, taken by Nelson at Trafalgar, alongside L'Audacious, L'Orion, and several other Téméraire-class vessels, making Superbe a useful hull-form reference for modelers tackling any Sané-designed French 74. Naming Caution: At least a dozen French Navy ships have carried the name Superbe across the 17th-19th centuries, including a different 74-gun Superbe launched in 1738 and lost at the Battle of the Cardinals in 1759, and a later Téméraire-class Superbe launched in 1814 and wrecked off Paros in 1833 — plans, models, and images for these distinct ships should not be conflated with this 1784 vessel.