French ship Impérial (1811)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Impérial and French ship Royal Louis.

1/48 scale model of the Océan class 120-gun ship of the line Commerce de Marseille, sister-ship of the Impérial. On display at Marseille naval museum.
History
France
Builder	François Poncet, Toulon Dyd
Laid down	July 1810
Launched	1 December 1811
Completed	August 1812
Fate	Broken up 1825
General characteristics
Class and type	Océan class ship of the line
Displacement	2 700 tonnes
Length	65.18 m (213.8 ft) (196,6 French feet)
Beam	16.24 m (53.3 ft) (50 French feet)
Draught	8.12 m (26.6 ft) (25 French feet)
Propulsion	sail, 3 265 m²
Complement	1 079 men
Armament	Lower deck: 32 36-pounder guns middle deck: 34 24-pounder guns upper deck: 34 12-pounder guns forecastle: 18 8-pounder guns, 6 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

The Impérial was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané and built by François Poncet.

She was begun at Toulon in 1810 and completed in 1812. She was the French flagship during the action of 5 November 1813.

She was renamed Royal Louis in April 1814 following the downfall of the First Empire, but resumed the name Impérial in March 1815 when Napoléon returned to France. After the Hundred Days and the restitution of Louis XVIII, she was again renamed Royal Louis in July 1815, being disarmed in June 1816. She was condemned in March 1825 and broken up later that year.

References

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671–1870. p. 251. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.