French ship Superbe (1814)

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

Superbe wrecked at Paros, by J. Outhwaite
History
France
Name	Superbe
Namesake	Superb
Builder	Antwerp
Laid down	23 August 1809
Launched	5 July 1814
Fate	Wrecked 15 December 1833
General characteristics
Class and type	Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement	2,966 tonnes 5,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length	55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam	14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught	7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion	Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament	74 guns: Lower gundeck: 28 × 36-pounder long guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder long guns Forecastle and Quarter deck: 6 × 8-pounder long guns 10 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

Superbe was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Career

Superbe was built at Antwerp, in a late effort of the First French Empire to replenish the French Navy by using all available shipyards. Particularly well-built, to the point of being called the "nicest ship in the Navy", she became the only ship built at Antwerp to survive breaking up after the Bourbon Restoration.

Superbe served in the Caribbean before returning to Brest to be put in the reserve in an inactive state.

In 1830, Superbe took part in the French invasion of Algiers, after which she returned to Toulon to be decommissioned again.

In 1833, Superbe served in the Mediterranean under Captain d'Oysonville. On 15 December 1833, she was caught in a storm in the Aegean Sea off Paros and ran aground at the entrance of Parekia harbour. The survivors returned to Toulon on the French Navy frigates Iphigénie and Galathée and the French ship Duquesne.

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 426. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.