In late 1761 Étienne François, duc de Choiseul took the direction of the Navy and proposed that the great institutions of France make voluntary donations, a scheme named don des vaisseaux.

On 1 September 1762,[5] the Estates of Brittany gathered at the Couvent des Cordeliers in Rennes[6] and decided to raise one million Livres tournois in order to offer a 100-gun Three-decker.

[5][7] On 2 November 1761, the Commission of the Estates of Brittany in charge of construction mandated Antoine Groignard as chief engineer, with Gaubry as deputy and Damel as an advisor.

[15] Choiseul wrote the Groignard to congratulate him for his appointment, and to argue in favour of building an 80-gun two-decker, with 36-pounders on the lower battery and 24-pounders on the upper, although he conceded that political considerations mandated a three-decker.

[18] By July, construction was expected to be completed in 1765,[19] and there were several exchanges of letters and budget estimations between various administrations and rival naval engineers, second-guessing Groignard and arguing about the furniture and spare parts needed for the ship.

[21] On 23, Groignard submitted his new plans, along with a memorandum underlining that this version would not allow the ship to hold six month worth of food and was compromising her stability, speed and maneuverability; furthermore, he warned that the lower headspace of the gundecks in the smaller project would hinder evacuation of smoke from the guns in combat conditions.

Lacking experience in the matter, it requested advice from Roth, director of the East India Company in Lorient,[17] who replied on 1 April with a long memorandum.

[25] Besides explaining how to assess the quality of the materials, how to transport it on land and how to store it, the memorandum observed that a number of parts would need to be obtained from outside of Bretagne, and sometimes even abroard, notably from the Netherlands.

[26] In August 1764, Groignard started laying down parts in Lorient shipyard, hoping to take advantage of the summer weather and of a moment of low activity by the East India Company.

[30] Realising its lack of competence, the commission had decided to cease procuring material directly and to delegate that task to the harbour mandated for the construction, which would be either Lorient or Brest.

[34] In 1775, Orvilliers took command of the Brest squadron and, finding her timbers rotten, petitionned Sartine for an extensive refit;[37][34] reconstruction started on 1 September 1776, taking 480,000 pounds, and Bretagne was launched on 7 April 1777.

[34] She took part in most of the engagements of the European theatre of the Anglo-French War,[38] notably the Battle of Ushant in 1778, where she served as Orvilliers' flagship,[2] with Parscau du Plessix as flag captain.

Although she had good nautical qualities, Bretagne had a tendency to leak and hog,[40] and from February to April 1781, she underwent a refit in Brest and notably received a copper sheathing.

[40] On 8 July 1782,[40] Bretagne departed Brest under Captain Charles Picot de Dampierre to join the Franco-Spanish combined fleet still besieging Gibraltar, arriving on 11 along with Invincible, Robuste, Protecteur, Actif, Zodiaque, Bien Aimé and Guerrier.

[40] On 13 October 1782, the fleet moved to intercept a British squadron, resulting in the Battle of Cape Spartel on 20 where Bretagne sustained 5 men wounded.

[45][4] In September 1793, her crew was involved in the Quibéron mutinies;[2] in reaction Jeanbon Saint-André had Lelarge destitued and Richery arrested,[46] and Bretagne renamed to Révolutionnaire.

[49] Révolutionnaire was fully repaired and rigged anew at Île-d'Aix, which entailed the construction of a workshop specially for that purpose, as well as bringing all parts from Rochefort.

[4] On 29 December 1794, under Captain Louis-Marie Le Gouardun,[4][Note 2] Révolutionnaire departed from Brest for the Croisière du Grand Hiver, where she sustained severe structural damage from the foul weather.

[52] The ornaments are not quite realistic: the aft is overly decorated compared to the drawings to master sculptor Lubet, and the figurehead is a woman carrying the arms of Bretagne, reflecting a project that was never realised in reality.