# Bucentaure-class ship of the line

The Bucentaure class was a class of 80-gun French ships of the line built to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané from 1802 onwards, of which at least 29 were ordered but only 21 ships were launched. They were a development from his earlier Tonnant class.

## Armament

As built, the first two ships of this class carried the same 80-gun armament as their predecessors of the Tonnant class - thirty 36-livre guns on the lower deck, thirty-two 24-livre guns on the upper deck, and eighteen 12-livre guns plus six 36-livre obusiers (howitzers) on the spar deck above (the French livre was about 8% greater than the British pound weight, so that 12 livres almost equaled 13 British pounds, and the 36-livre round equated to 38lbs 13.6oz).
Under the 1806 règlement, the spar deck ordnance was altered to fourteen 12-livre guns plus ten 36-livre carronades. Subsequently, additional 36-livre carronades were carried by most later ships of the class, raising them to 86-gun ships (with variations in actual numbers).

## Ships in class

* Bucentaure
    Builder: Toulon
    Ordered: 16 September 1802
    Begun: 22 November 1802
    Launched: 13 July 1803
    Completed: January 1804
    Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 21 October 1805 following Trafalgar. Was briefly recaptured but was then wrecked on 23 October 1805.
* Neptune (i)
    Builder: Toulon
    Ordered: 16 September 1802
    Begun: 4 January 1803
    Launched: 15 August 1803
    Completed: April 1804
    Fate: Captured by the Spanish Navy in June 1808, renamed Neptuno, Broken up 1820.
* Robuste
    Builder: Toulon
    Ordered: 26 March 1805
    Begun: May 1805
    Launched: 30 October 1806
    Completed: May 1807
    Fate: Scuttled and burnt on 26 October 1809.
* Ville de Varsovie
    Builder: Rochefort
    Ordered: 30 April 1804
    Begun: 22 March 1805 as Tonnant, renamed 14 May 1807
    Launched: 10 May 1808
    Completed: July 1808
    Fate: Captured and burnt by the British in April 1809.
* Donawerth
    Builder: Toulon
    Ordered: 11 August 1806
    Begun: December 1806
    Launched: 4 July 1808
    Completed: October 1808
    Fate: Broken up 1824.
* Eylau
    Builder: Lorient
    Begun: September 1805
    Launched: 19 November 1808
    Completed: May 1809
    Fate: Condemned 1829 and broken up.
* Friedland
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: July 1807
    Launched: 2 May 1810
    Completed: May 1811
    Fate: Handed over to the Netherlands on 1 August 1814 and renamed Vlaming. Broken up 1823.
* Sceptre
    Builder: Toulon
    Ordered: 126 December 1808
    Begun: March 1809
    Launched: 15 August 1810
    Completed: March 1811
    Fate: Condemned 1828 and hulked.
* Tilsitt
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: September 1807
    Launched: 15 August 1810
    Completed: May 1811
    Fate: Handed over to the Netherlands on 1 August 1814 and renamed Neptunus. Condemned and broken up 1818.
* Auguste
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: October 1807
    Launched: 25 April 1811
    Completed: July 1811
    Fate: Handed over to the Netherlands on 1 August 1814 but returned to France in September and renamed Illustre. Condemned and broken up 1827.
* Pacificateur
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: September 1807
    Launched: 22 May 1811
    Completed: August 1811
    Fate: Condemned 1823.
* Illustre
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: August 1807
    Launched: 9 June 1811
    Completed: October 1811
    Fate: Handed over to the Netherlands on 1 August 1814 and renamed Prins van Oranje. Sold 1825 and broken up.
* Diademe
    Builder: Lorient
    Begun: November 1807
    Launched: 1 December 1811
    Completed: March 1812
    Fate: Condemned 1856 and broken up 1868.
* Conquérant
    Builder: Antwerp
    Begun: December 1808
    Launched: 27 April 1812
    Completed: September 1812
    Fate: Condemned 1831.
* Zélandais
    Builder: Cherbourg
    Begun: October 1810
    Launched: 12 October 1813
    Completed: March 1814
    Fate: Condemned 1836 and hulked. Broken up 1858.
* Magnifique
    Builder: Lorient
    Begun: December 1809
    Launched: 29 October 1814
    Completed: November 1814
    Fate: Condemned 1837.
* Centaure
    Builder: Cherbourg
    Begun: November 1811
    Launched: 8 January 1818
    Completed: April 1818
    Fate: Renamed Santi Pietri in October 1823. Hulked 1849, burnt by accident 1862.
* Neptune (ii)
    Builder: Lorient
    Begun: December 1810
    Launched: 21 March 1818
    Completed: June 1818
    Fate: Hulked 1858, broken up 1868.
* Algésiras
    Builder: Lorient
    Begun: April 1812
    Launched: 21 August 1823
    Completed: April 1824
    Fate: Hulked 1846.
* Jupiter
    Builder: Cherbourg
    Begun: November 1811
    Launched: 22 October 1831
    Completed: September 1833
    Fate: hulked 1863.
* Vesuvio
    Builder: Castellammare di Stabia
    Begun: August 1812
    Launched: 2 December 1824
    Completed: 1825
    Fate: Not launched as French warship; became Neapolitan ship in December 1813.
No other vessels of this design were completed, the following were begun at Antwerp, but were taken over in 1814 by the Netherlands, were never launched or completed, and were broken up on the stocks.
* Mars
    Begun: April 1811
* Alexandre
    Begun: June 1811
* Tibre
    Begun: June 1811
* Atlas
    Begun: September 1811
* Fougueux
    Begun: July 1812
A further ship to this same design was begun as Saturno in May 1812 at Venice, and was renamed Emo by the Austrians following their seizure of that city, but was broken up on the stocks in 1818–19. A second ship was ordered at Venice in 1813, but was never laid down. Finally a further ship of this class was ordered in 1812 at Rochefort, but was never laid down or even assigned a name.