French ship armament at Trafalgar

[Byron Angel]

More interesting stuff to chat about .....

Here is a comparison of what Goodwin stated as the armament of the French ships in his book "The Ships at Trafalgar" versus what Demerliac indicates them to be in his book "La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire - Nomenclature des navires francais de 1800 1815". A lot of subtle differences are to be found.

As regards the occasional odd British caliber carronade armaments listed by Goodwin for the French ships, I suspect that they may be imprecise/misleading transcriptions when he was listing post-capture re-arming of those captured French ships with British ordnance. Where you see od calibers listed (like "16.5 pdr"), I am fairly sure that it represents British guns listed per French poundage (18 English pounds = approx 16.5 French pounds).

I also have a copy of "Navios de la Real Armada 1700-1860" by Enrique Garcia-Torralba Perez if people are interested in the Spanish ships at Trafalgar.

Byron


GOODWIN ..... <versus> ..... DEMERLIAC

BUCENTAURE - 80
30 x 36-pdr <versus> 30 x 36-pdr
30-32 x 24-pdr <versus> 32 x 24-pdr
18 x 8-pdr <versus> 18 x 12-pdr
4-6 x 36-pdr howitzers <versus> 6 x 36-pdr obusier

FORMIDABLE – 80
30 x 36-pdr <versus> 30 x 36-pdr
32 x 24-pdr <versus> 32 x 24-pdr
20 x 8-pdr <versus> 28 x 12-pdr
4-6 x 36-pdr howitzers <versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

INDOMPTABLE – 80
30 x 36-pdr <versus> 30 x 36-pdr
30-32 x 24-pdr <versus> 32 x 24-pdr
18 x 8-pdr <versus> 28 x 12-pdr
4-6 x 36-pdr howitzers <versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

NEPTUNE – 80
30 x 36-pdr <versus> 30 x 36-pdr
30-32 x 24-pdr <versus> 32 x 24-pdr
18 x 8-pdr <versus> 18 x 12-pdr
4-6 x 36-pdr howitzers <versus> 6 x 36-pdr obusier + 6 x 27-pdr caronade


ACHILLE – 74
28 x 36-pdr <versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr <versus> 30 x 18-pdr
18 x 8-pdr <versus> 16 x 8-pdr
4-6 x brass howitzers <versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

AIGLE – 74
28 x 36-pdr <versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr <versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr <versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 4 x 36-pdr obusier

ALGESIRAS - 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 4 x 36-pdr obusier

ARGONAUTE – 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 4 x 36-pdr obusier

BERWICK – 74
28 x 32-pdr<versus> 28 x 32-pdr
28 x 18-pdr<versus> 28 x 16.5-pdr
18 x 9-pdr<versus> 16 x 9-pdr

DUGUAY-TROUIN - 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 4 x 36-pdr obusier

FOUGUEUX – 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 6 x 36-pdr obusier

HEROS – 74
30 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr
2 x 18-pdr carronades<versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

INTREPIDE – 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 24-pdr
28 x 24-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
16 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr

MONT BLANC – 74
30 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 6 x 36-pdr obusier + 8 x perriers

PLUTON – 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr
4-6 x brass howitzers<versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

ACHILLE – 74
28 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
18 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr
4-6 x brass howitzers<versus> 4 x 36-pdr obusier

REDOUTABLE - 74
30 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdr<versus> 16 x 8-pdr
4-6 x 36-pdr howitzers<versus> 6 x 36-pdr obusier + 6 x perriers

SCIPION - 74
30 x 36-pdr<versus> 28 x 36-pdr
30 x 18-pdr<versus> 30 x 18-pdr
20 x 8-pdrs<versus> 16 x 8-pdr + 4 x 36-pdr obusier

SWIFTSURE – 74
28 x 32-pdr<versus> 28 x 32-pdr
28 x 16.5-pdr<versus> 28 x 16.5-pdr
18 x 9-pdr<versus> 20 x 9-pdr + 2 x caronades, 6 caronades anglaises