The works of the Commission led to the design of double-decked 24-pounder frigates, as well as to four ranks of ships of the line: the 120-gun (Valmy being the lone unit built to the design), the 100-gun Hercule class, the 90-gun Suffren class, and an 80-gun type whose only ship ever started, Tour d’Auvergne, was never launched.
However, they proved difficult to build in a tight financial context; the resulting lengthy construction limited the useful lifetime of the ships, compounded with their quick obsolescence caused by the introduction of the Paixhans gun, steam engines and armour plating.
During the First French Empire, the French Navy was organised into three types of ships of the line: the 118-gun three-deckers of the Océan class and their Commerce de Paris-class derivatives, which constituted the capital ships that led naval squadrons; the powerful 80-gun two-deckers of the Tonnant class and their Bucentaure-class derivatives, constituting the backbone of the squadrons; and the 74-gun workhorses of the Téméraire class.
[2][3] In 1818, Portal d'Albarèdes was appointed Minister of the Navy of the recently restored Monarchy.
[1] In 1822, Tupinier published his Observations sur les dimensions des Vaisseaux et Frégates de la Marine française, recommending that the Océan class be retained as capital ship, and that two ranks of two-deckers be adopted: one carrying 102 guns, and the other 96.