# Abeille-class brig

The Abeille class was a type of 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy, designed by François Pestel with some units refined by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland. They were armed with either 24-pounder carronades, or a mixture of light 6-pounder long guns and lighter carronades. Twenty-one ships of this type were built between 1801 and 1812, and served in the Napoleonic Wars.
The four first ships were ordered in bulk on 24 December 1800, but two (Mouche and Serin) could not be completed due to shortages of timbers. As the forerunner of the series, Abeille, is not always identified as such in British sources, the type is sometimes referred to as the Sylphe class, after Sylphe, which served as model for subsequent constructions.

## Ships

* Mouche
    Builder: Toulon
    Begun: 24 December 1800
    Launched:
    Completed:
    Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.
* Abeille
    Builder: Toulon
    Begun: 24 December 1800
    Launched: 24 June 1801
    Completed: 21 May 1801
    Fate: Hulked in 1844, renamed Molène and used as an achor depot in Brest in 1865
* Furet
    Builder: Toulon
    Begun: September 1801
    Launched: 24 December 1801
    Completed: 25 February 1802
    Fate: Captured by HMS Hydra on 27 February 1806
* Serin
    Builder: Toulon
    Begun: 1802
    Launched:
    Completed:
    Fate: Never completed due to lack of timber.
* Faune
    Builder: Nantes
    Begun: 1803
    Launched: 8 July 1804
    Completed:
    Fate: Captured by HMS Goliath on 2 August 1805 and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Fawn
* Néarque
    Builder: Caudan, Lorient
    Begun: 15 June 1803
    Launched: 27 April 1804
    Completed: 13 July 1804
    Fate: Captured by HMS Niobe on 28 March 1806.
* Sylphe
    Builder: Dunkerque
    Begun: June 1803
    Launched: 10 July 1804
    Completed: 29 September 1804
    Fate: Captured by HMS Comet on 18 August 1808, commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Seagull
* Adonis
    Builder: Genoa (Italy)
    Begun: April 1805
    Launched: 18 August 1806
    Completed: 21 November 1806
    Fate: Broken up in 1823
* Cygne
    Builder: Le Havre Dockyard
    Begun: 28 April 1806
    Launched: 12 September 1806
    Completed:
    Fate: Ran aground and scuttled by fire to avoid capture
* Écureuil
    Builder:
    Begun:
    Launched:
    Completed:
    Fate:
* Requin
    Builder:
    Begun:
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* Béarnais
    Builder:
    Begun:
    Launched:
    Completed:
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* Génie
    Builder:
    Begun:
    Launched:
    Completed:
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* Pluvier
    Builder:
    Begun:
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* Basque
    Builder:
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* Hussard
    Builder:
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* Renard
    Builder: Genoa Dockyard
    Begun: November 1808
    Launched: 12 May 1810
    Completed:
    Fate: Seized by the British in 1814 with the capitulation of Genoa
* Zèbre
    Builder:
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* Faune
    Builder:
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* Actéon
    Builder:
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* Inconstant
    Builder:
    Begun:
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## Citations

* 1 2 Roche, p.484
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.316
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Roche, p.379 (Requin)
* ↑ MONOGRAPHIE DU CYGNE - Brick -1806 24-PDR BRIG LE CYGNE BY ENGINEER PESTEL 1806 -1808 MONOGRAPH Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
* 1 2 3 Roche, p.412
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.17
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.217
* 1 2 3 4 Roche, p.194
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.323
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.428
* 1 2 3 4 5 Roche, p.22
* 1 2 3 4 Roche, p.138