French ship Centaure (1818)

Centaure was a 3rd rank, 90-gun built for the French Navy during the 1810s. Completed in 1818, she played a minor role in the Spanish expedition in 1823.

Description

Designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, the Bucentaure-class ships had a length of, a beam of and a depth of hold of. The ships displaced 3,868 tonneaux and had a mean draught of. They had a tonnage of 2,034 port tonneaux. Their crew numbered 866 officers and ratings during wartime. They were fitted with three masts and ship rigged.
The muzzle-loading, smoothbore armament of the Bucentaure class consisted of thirty 36-pounder long guns on the lower gun deck and thirty-two 24-pounder long guns on the upper gun deck. The armament on the quarterdeck and forecastle varied as the ships' authorised armament was changed over the years that the Bucentares were built. Centaure was fitted with fourteen 12-pounder long guns and fourteen 36-pounder carronades.

Construction and career

Centaure was ordered in 1811, laid down on 2 November 1811 at the Arsenal de Cherbourg, and named on 25 November. The ship was launched on 8 January 1818. She was completed in April and commissioned on 10 February 1823. Centaure participated in operations of the Spanish expedition later that year, along with Trident and Sirène, silencing Fort Santi-Pietri in Cádiz on 20 September. On 14 October, she was renamed Santi-Pietri to commemorate the event. The ship was used as a troopship in 1836, condemned on 5 November 1849 and hulked as a prison ship before she was destroyed by fire on 4 January 1862.