L'Hermione (Napoleonic-era replica subject)

Type

Frigate

Period

18th Century

Nation

France

Overview: L'Hermione was a 32-gun Concorde-class French frigate launched in 1779, famous for carrying the Marquis de Lafayette to America in 1780 with news of French military support for the American Revolution. A modern, historically accurate replica was built at Rochefort between 1997 and 2014 and remains active today as a sailing ambassador for Franco-American friendship, making this record cover both the Napoleonic-era-adjacent original and its celebrated replica. Specifications: The original frigate was roughly 45-47 meters overall with a hull length near 44 meters and carried 32 guns; the modern replica measures about 65-66 meters long, 11.24 meters beam, with a 5.78 meter draft and roughly 1,166-1,200 tonnes displacement. The replica carries 2,200 square meters of linen sail on three masts and was built using oak, hemp rigging, and traditional 18th-century joinery techniques. Service History: The original Hermione patrolled the Bay of Biscay early in the Anglo-French War, escorted convoys, and chased privateers before her most celebrated mission, ferrying Lafayette to Boston in 1780. She later took part in the Battle of Cape Henry and the action of 21 July 1781 before running aground and wrecking off Brittany in 1793. Because Hermione's own builder's plans had been lost, the 1990s-2010s replica project relied on plans of her sister ship Concorde, captured and surveyed by the Royal Navy, to recreate the vessel at Rochefort. Notable Facts: The replica took roughly 17 years and about 3,000 oak trees to build, launching in 2014 and completing a widely publicized transatlantic voyage retracing Lafayette's 1780 route, including stops at Yorktown, Mount Vernon, Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. In 2021 a routine inspection discovered fungal structural damage to the replica, prompting repair work and raising questions about her ability to sail again, a detail worth noting for anyone modeling her current in-service configuration.