French ship Protecteur

Scale model on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris. This model is a 64-gun, probably mislabeled.
History
France
Name	Protecteur
Namesake	"Protector"
Builder	Toulon, by plans by Noël Pomet[1]
Laid down	29 May 1757 [1]
Launched	22 May 1760 [1]
Decommissioned	1784 [1]
Fate	Hulked 1784
General characteristics
Class and type	Souverain-class 74-gun ship of the line
Tonnage	1550 tonnes
Length	53.3 m (174 ft 10 in)
Beam	14.1 m (46 ft 3 in)
Height	7.1 m (23 ft 4 in)
Complement	410 men

Protecteur was a Souverain-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, the only to have borne the name.

She was laid down in 1757 and launched in 1760.

In 1762, under Captain de L'Ilsle Calian, Protecteur was part of Bompart's squadron.^[1] In 1766, she escorted merchantmen under Captain de Broves.^[1]

In 1788, Under Captain Dapchon, Protecteur was appointed to Admiral d'Estaing's squadron and took part in the American Revolutionary War.^[1] She took part in the Battle of Grenada^[2] under Grasse-Limermont.^[3]

In 1782, Protecteur was part of the escort of a 20-sail convoy, along with the ship Pégase and the frigates Indiscrète and Andromaque. The English HMS Foudroyant and HMS Queen intercepted, yielding the Third Battle of Ushant in which they captured Pégase and four transports, but where the rest of the French convoy escaped.^[1]

From 1784, Protecteur was hulked and used as a hospital in Rochefort.^[1]

• Contenson, Ludovic (1934). La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778-1783). Paris: éditions Auguste Picard. OCLC 7842336.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 – 1870. p. 364. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.

• (in French) Le Protecteur
• (in French) Le Protecteur Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
• (in French) Le Protecteur Archived 2007-12-10 at the Wayback Machine

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