French frigate Alceste (1780)

A Magicienne class frigate
History
France
Name	Alceste
Ordered	20 April 1780
Builder	Toulon shipyard
Laid down	May 1780
Launched	28 October 1780
Commissioned	February 1781
Captured	by Britain, 29 August 1793
Kingdom of Sardinia
Name	Alceste
Acquired	29 August 1793
Captured	By Boussole on 8 June 1794
France
Name	Alceste
Acquired	8 June 1794
Captured	By HMS Bellona, 18 June 1799
Great Britain
Name	Alceste
Acquired	18 June 1799
Fate	Floating battery (1801); broken up in May 1802
General characteristics
Class and type	Magicienne class frigate
Displacement	600 tonnes 5 260 tonnes fully loaded
Tons burthen	932 (bm)[1]
Length	44.2 m (145 ft)
Beam	11.2 m (37 ft)
Draught	5.2 m (17 ft) (22 French feet)
Complement	240 in British service; 96 as a floating battery[1]
Armament	26 × 12-pounder long guns + 6 × 6-pounder long guns
Armour	Timber

Alceste was a Magicienne class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1780, that the British seized at the Siege of Toulon. They transferred her to the Kingdom of Sardinia, but the French recaptured her a year later in the action of 8 June 1794. The British captured her again at the action of 18 June 1799 and took her into service as HMS Alceste. In 1801 she became a floating battery and she was sold the next year.