List of ships of the line of France

The vaisseaux were classified according to size and/or firepower into a series of Rangs (ranks), roughly equivalent to the system of Rates used by the British Navy, although these did not correspond exactly.

Francis I was the first of the five French Kings of the Valois-Angoulême dynasty, who reigned from 1515 to 1589: The application of the Salic law meant that with the extinction of the Valois in the male line, the Bourbons succeeded to the throne as descendants of Louis IX.

The first seven years of this reign were under the Regency of Marie de Médicis, the consort of Henri IV – Louis XIII's father, who had been assassinated in 1610.

Following the Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré and the Siege of La Rochelle, and in line with his general efforts to enhance the prestige and status of France in Europe, the Cardinal de Richelieu had a number of warships purchased from Holland, and eventually built in France by Holland-instructed French engineers.

The first eight years of this reign were under the Regency of Anne of Austria, the consort of Louis XIII, while French politics were dominated by Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who served as Chief Minister from 1642, and Louis XIV did not achieve personal rule until the death of Cardinal Mazarin in March 1661.

The largest and most heavily armed First Rank ships, effectively those carrying 100 carriage guns or more, were placed in a sub-category of Vaisseaux de Premier Rang Extraordinaire.

They were all full three-deckers, i.e. with three full-length gun decks, with the uppermost of these surmounted by an armed forecastle, quarterdeck and poop.

Initially during the first part of Louis XIV's reign these were designed and constructed as three-decked ships without forecastles and with minimal quarterdecks, although their upper decks were divided at the waist by an unarmed section of deck; but from about 1670 it was ruled that ships with fewer than 70 guns should not be built with three decks, so all subsequent Third Rank ships were two-decked vessels, i.e. carrying two complete gundecks, usually plus a few smaller carriage guns mounted on the gaillards (the quarterdeck and forecastle).

Large two-deckers, with a weight of broadside equal to the three-deckers of Louis XIV's period, served usually as fleet flagships.

Three French East India Company ships were purchased by the Navy in April 1770; all designed and built by Antoine Groignard and Gilles Cambry.

Three different constructeurs designed these ships; the first two were by François-Guillaume Clairain-Deslauriers and Léon-Michel Guignace respectively, while the Toulon pair were by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb.

The period was divided into the Convention (until 26 October 1795, during which effective power was exercised by the Committee of Public Safety), the Directory until 9 November 1799 (the Directorate was a "Cabinet" of five members), and finally the Consulate until the proclamation of the Empire on 18 May 1804.

They were begun in 1793 and 1794 respectively as Lion and Magnanime, but were renamed Glorieux (subsequently Cassard) and Quatorze Juillet in 1798; the second ship became Vétéran in 1802.

Napoléon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor on 18 May 1804 and ruled until he abdicated on 6 April 1814, at which time the Bourbon monarchy resumed under Louis XVIII.

This group comprised two small three-deckers built at Rotterdam from 1799 for the Batavian Navy, and annexed to France when the Dutch state was absorbed by the French Empire in 1810.

Four further ships begun at Venice to this design were never launched – Montenotte, Arcole, Lombardo and Semmering; all were broken up on the stocks by the Austrian occupiers.

The Second French Republic was established briefly from 1848 (until 1852).This section of the article includes all ships of the line launched from July 1815 to February 1848.

Later Dauphin Royal class (continued) Later units of the 118-gun type, begun during the First Empire, were completed at various dates over the next few decades.

Two further units of the Océan class were built to an altered design, with a thumblehome reduced by 20 centimetres, increasing space available on the upper decks.