French frigate Hermione (1779)

Hermione in the Naval battle of Louisbourg, by Rossel de Cercy
History
France
Name	Hermione
Builder	Rochefort [1]
Laid down	December 1778 [2]
Launched	28 April 1779 [1][2]
Commissioned	11 May 1779 [2]
In service	June 1779 [1]
Fate	Ran aground and wrecked due to a navigation error of her pilot at Le Croisic on 20 September 1793 [1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Concorde-class 12-pounder frigate
Tons burthen	550 tons; 1160 ton burthen [1]
Length	44.2 m (145 ft) [1]
Beam	11.24 m (36.9 ft) [1]
Draught	5.78 m (19.0 ft) [1]
Speed	9 knots close-hauled 13 knots broad reach 11 knots running [5][Note 1]
Complement	6 officers [3] 10 guards [3] 292 seamen [4]
Armament	32 guns: 26 × 12-pounder long guns [1] 6 6-pounder long guns [1]

Hermione was a 32-gun Concorde-class frigate of the French Navy. Designed for speed, she was one of the first ships of the French Navy to receive a copper sheathing. At the beginning of the Anglo-French War of 1778, she patrolled in the Bay of Biscay, escorting convoys and chasing privateers. She became famous when she ferried General La Fayette to the United States in 1780 in support of the rebels in the American Revolutionary War. She took an incidental role in the Battle of Cape Henry on 16 March 1781, and a major one in the action of 21 July 1781.

Hermione grounded and was wrecked in 1793. In 1997, construction of a replica ship started in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France; the new ship is likewise named Hermione.

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