Le Fleuron, a
64-gun ship of the line 3rd rate (vaisseau de 64 canons), was built
according to plans by naval architect Blaise Ollivier who also together
with his father, Joseph, a naval architect as well, conducted and
surveyed the construction of the ship in Brest 1729-32. Le Fleuron is an
excellent example of the French naval architecture school at the
beginning of the 18th century which was not yet influenced by the
English and Dutch naval schools. Le Fleuron was one of the finest ships
in Louis XV's navy and received the following testimonial (among
others): " all those who have served on Le Fleuron or seen her sailing,
regard her as the perfect ship" and it was often the fastest ship in the
squadron.
The ship
served in the French navy until 1745 when it burned at the roadstead of
Brest. In active service Le Fleuron participated in several missions to,
among other places, North America, Guinea and notably three trips to the
Baltic Sea.
Le Fleuron
was 145 feet (French) 8 inches (47,20m) long; 39 feet 4 inches (12,73m)
large and 18 feet 2 inches (5,88m) moulded depth. In time of peace Le
Fleuron was armed with 60 guns; 24 24-pounder iron guns on the lower
deck; 26 12-pounder iron guns on the main deck; and 10 6-pounder iron
guns on the forecastle and quarterdeck (the armament changed over time
and on my model it is somewhat different from the description presented
here). Le Fleuron had a total crew of 450-500 men depending on its
mission.
Jean Boudriot
and Gerard Delacroix have on the basis of Blaise Ollivier's original
plans and descriptions produced an outstanding monograph,
"Vaisseau de 64 canons LE FLEURON de Blaise
Ollivier, 1729, COLLECTION ARCHEOLOGIE NAVALE FRANCAISE, EDITIONS OMEGA".
It is this monograph I have used as the basis for the construction of my
scale model.
The following
pages describes the model in general as well as details of the
construction illustrated by photos. Follow this
"Le Fleuron, Model" to continue.
L'Amarante, a
12-gun Corvette, was built in Brest 1747 as the last in a series of
three (La Palme and L'Anemone were the first two). The plans were made
by Joseph-Louis Ollivier, who was only 15 at the time when the
construction of La Palme began in 1744 and he was undoubtedly helped by
his father, Blaise Ollivier, who at that time was a recognized naval
architect who, among other projects, had made the plans for Le Fleuron.
The definition of a corvette took form in the mid-18th century and was
described as ".. a fast sailing ship with fewer than 20 guns" and
corvettes eventually replaced the light frigates.
L'Amarante
was completed in december 1747 and in March 1748 it captured the
British kaperskib Prince of Wales. Between July and November 1751
L'Amarante participated in a scientific expedition off the coast of
Spain and Portugal. In June 1757 it leaves Rochefort together with four
frigates and one other corvette to escort a convoy to Brest and it also
performed convoy service in 1758. In October 1759 L'Amarante departs
from Dunkirk with five frigates and 1200 men for a planned landing
attempt in Ireland. It is on this occasion L'Amarante sank off
Saint-Malo in February 1760.
L'Amarante
had a length of 84 feet (French) 6 inches (27.44 m), width 22 feet (7.15
m) depth of 10 feet 1 inch (3.27 m). Fully loaded, a tonnage of 232. The
armament consisted of twelve 4-pounder iron guns. The drawings for the
ship's decorations were done by Caffiery.
By using
Blaise Ollivier's original as well as various contemporary plans and
descriptions Gerard Delacroix has created an excellent monograph,
"L'AMARANTE,
Corvette the 12 canons, du constructeur Joseph-Louis Ollivier, 1747
Éditions Gérard Delacroix." It is this monograph I have used
as a basis for the construction of my scale model.
The following
pages describes the model in general as well as details of the
construction illustrated by photos. Follow the
"L'Amarante, Model" to continue.
Follow the
link "Home"
to go back.
FLORA was one
of four corvettes of the Triton class (BELLONA, DIANA, FLORA and TRITON)
granted to Denmark under the American MDAP programme (Mutual Defence
Assistance Programme), which aimed at restoring Western European defence
capabilities after WW2. The ships were built in Italy (FLORA was
launched in 1955 from the Cantiere del Tirreno shipyard, Riva Trigoso).
A total of eight units were built (in Italy known as the ALBATROS
class), of which Italy got three, the Netherlands one and, as mentioned,
Denmark four. In Denmark, the ships were soon nicknamed the "Spaghetti
boats" due to their origin. FLORA was decommissioned from the Danish
Navy in 1977.
The corvettes
of the TRITON-class had a steel hull while the superstructure and deck
houses were made of aluminium. They had an overall length of 76.l
meters, beam 9.6 meters, draft of 2.5 meters and a displacement fully
equipped of 875.8 tons. The superstructure consisted of the deck house,
the boat deck, the bridge and the gunfire control deck. The ships were
powered by two Ansaldo-Fiat engines that combined could provide a
maximum 4,330 bhp. which gave a top speed of 20-21 knots, depending on
the conditions. There was a crew of about 110 men of whom 10 were
officers.
During most
of the corvettes’ lifetime the armament consisted of one 40 mm and two
76 mm guns, both of which could be used against air as well as sea
targets. As anti-submarine weapons the ships were equipped with two
Hedgehog depth charge launchers, four k-guns (that hurled the depth
charge some distance from the ship) and a stern rack where depth charges
were rolled off the stern of the ship.
In the more
than 20 years the corvettes were active in the Danish Navy their tasks
were diverse and included, among other things, sovereignty enforcement
and intelligence gathering in the Baltic Sea and fishing inspection in
the North Sea and North Atlantic. In war time the ships were expected to
protect other ships against air and submarine attacks.
A report
refers to the TRITON ships class as "A seaworthy and decent ship: Cleave
the waves without dipping the stern. Only takes water in the form of
drift water. On transverse waves the ship rolls violently, but with
pleasant movements .... ". From my personal experience, not least as a
helmsman, I can confirm that in heavy weather it was a very “lively”
ship.
Sources:
Flådens Skibe og Fartøjer 1945-1995, Gunnar Olsen og Svenn Storgaard,
Marinehistoriske Skrifter
Korvetterne
af TRITON-klassen, Tom Wismann, Steel & Stone Publishing.
The following
pages describes the model in general as well as details of the
construction illustrated by photos. Follow the
"FLORA, Model" to continue.
As part of
rebuilding the Danish Navy after the 2nd World War, two
frigates of the River-class were bought from the UK in 1945 for 265.000
£ each. Under Danish flag they were named HOLGER DANSKE F338 (previous
HMS and HMCS Monnow) and NIELS EBBESEN F339 (previous HMS and HMCS
Annan).
During the 2nd World War 151 ships of the River-class were built, the vast majority in the UK and Canada. The vessels were designed for the specific purpose of convoy escorting in the Atlantic and were therefore oceangoing, armed for anti-submarine warfare and fast enough to run up the German submarines. In addition to serving under British and Canadian flags, there were also ships under Australian, United States' and some exile governments' flag, e.g. the Free French. After the war, a great number of River-class frigates were used in rebuilding navies in many countries.
The frigate’s
name, NIELS EBBESEN, derives from a Danish squire, Niels Ebbesen,
(1308-1340) who liberated Jutland and Funen by fighting and killing the
German count Gerhard III who ruled over part of Denmark. Thus, the
ship’s name is a symbol of the Danish resistance against the
German occupation of Denmark, 1940-45.
HMS ANNAN, k
404, was built at the Hall, Russell & Co, Ltd shipyard in Aberdeen and
launched in December 1943 and was later transferred to the Canadian navy
as HMCS ANNAN. The frigate entered the Danish Navy in November 1945.
NIELS EBBESEN
had an overall length of 91,9 meters, beam 11,1 meters, draft 3,2 meters
and a displacement of 2.165,2 tons fully equipped. The hull was made of
steel plates that were fixed partly by riveting and partly by welding. The
superstructure consisted of a forecastle and boat deck, a deck house and
the bridge deck. The engines were two four-cylinder triple expansion
Thornycroft steam engines which got steam from two Babcock & Wilcox oil
fuelled water-tube boilers. The ship had a top speed of a little more
than 20 knots. There was a crew of 167 men, of whom 11 were officers, 66
nucleus crew and 90 cadets/trainees.
The frigate’s
armament during the war as a convoy escort ship was obviously tailored
to anti-submarine warfare and protection against air attacks (as HMCS
ANNAN she engaged and sank the German submarine U-1006 south of the Faroe Islands in 1944,
rescuing 46 survivors). Under Danish flag, where NIELS EBBESEN mainly
served as training ship for cadets and trainees, the armament changed
considerably over time and, in addition to being adapted to training
purposes, it also evolved with international developments, especially
the escalation of the cold war.
At the same
time as its functions as a training ship, NIELS EBBESEN was also an
active unit in the Danish navy’s operational activities. Thus, the
frigate was extensively used as a fishery protection vessel in the North
Sea and the waters around Greenland and the Faro Islands. It was during
such a mission in Faro Islands’ waters that the ship seized the Scottish
trawler “Red Crusader” for illegal fishing. A matter that later ended up in
the International Court in the Hague.
During its
service NIELS EBBESEN visited many countries and places, among them the
Azores, Madeira, Bermuda and the USA.
A general
report describes the ship’s qualities as follows: “A seaworthy ship that
in Beaufort 11 wind force in the Atlantic has good movements and modest
loss of speed as long as not heading directly into the sea, as she then
is pitching considerably. Good manoeuvrability due to the twin
propellers and great engine power, little steering qualities astern
though and drifting somewhat even in moderate wind. Going fine in ice
but due to the thin plates, thick ice should be avoided”.
When the
River-class frigates were built the accommodation standard for the crew
was regarded as good. However, twenty years later it could be questioned
if sleeping in hammocks (stowed away during the day), eating and
sleeping in the same mess was comfortable.
NIELS EBBESEN
was decommissioned from the Danish navy in 1963.
Sources
Flådens Skibe og Fartøjer 1945-1995, Gunnar Olsen og Svenn Storgaard,
Marinehistoriske Skrifter
Fregatterne
HOLGER DANSKE & NIELS EBBESEN, Tom Wismann, Steel & Stone Publishing
River-class
Frigates and the Battle of the Atlantic, Brian Lavery, National Maritme
Museum